Rain has a large cast of characters. The series revolves around their relationships and secrets, so expect several unmarked spoilers.
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Main characters
Rain
Rain Flaherty/Liriel Rain Bryer
"I...I can do this..."
Click here for her after her traumatic haircut.
Click here for her after the time skip.
Voiced by: Larissa Frost
The main character of the comic. She is a trans girl and is trying to pass as a girl through her senior year of high school. When changing her legal name, she chooses to go by "Liriel Rain Bryer."
- Amicable Exes: Her and Rudy still get along well, even after their break-up.
- Appropriated Appellation: Kellen cut Rain's hair to make the latter look more like a boy. While Rain is angry about this, she eventually does learn to like the short hairstyle, even deciding to keep it as she grows up.
- Cain and Abel: Was the latter to Aiken initially (before they made up) and is now the latter to Kellen after the haircut incident. She wants nothing to do with her sister following it (on top of the various attempts to explain her being transgender away).
- Cannot Spit It Out: Towards Emily. Though it seems that she's picked up on her feelings somewhat. At the end of Chapter 28, she finally managed it.
- Character Development: Rain starts the story as a neurotic girl afraid of everything that could give her away. While her issues are still there, she eventually grows more and more confident with herself and deals with opposition in an effective manner, as Kellen and Debbie learned the hard way. She even feels comfortable and confident enough to come out to Ana, who doesn't know her nearly as well as the others.
- Disowned Parent: Rain disowns Marcus in her final dream about him, affirming that her actual father was Mr. Bryer with Fara serving as her mother.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Rain doesn't like being referred to as her deadname, something Kellen and Aiken, initially, ignore and often blatantly deadname her.
- Dreadful Musician: In a Q&A blog, she starts singing folk metal and anime theme songs while doing it extremely off-key, much to the dismay of Fara.
- Happily Married: By Chapter 44, she and Emily have eloped.
- Hates Their Parent: Rain is open about how she despises Marcus and is often seen having nightmares of awful memories under his care or new nightmares where he antagonizes her. Averted with Liriel
- Hiding Behind Your Bangs: She often wears hairstyles where only one of her eyes are visible, complimenting her initially bashful attitude. It's revealed in an ask blog that she intentionally styles her hair this way. Averted when her hair is cut, as she doesn't have enough hair to cover it up.
- Ironic Name: Despite her name, she actually doesn't really enjoy rainy days. Lampshaded by Gavin in one strip when she complains about the weather.
- Leg Focus: Maria comments on her "Beautiful, perfect legs" early on.
- Meaningful Rename: After reading Lorcan's letter, before going to officially change her name, Rain decides to take his deadname Liriel as her first name, although she still plans on going by Rain. Not only that, she decides to discard her former last name (Flaherty) to Fara's last name (Bryer), to demonstrate that she has completely disowned Marcus.
- New Transfer Student: She begins her first chapter as this.
- Nice Girl: She tries to be as kind as possible to everyone, including her family, even when they're not willing to accept her for who she is.
- Oblivious to Love: Rain isn’t aware, nor does she ever find out, that Gavin and Maria has a crush on her, despite Rudy and Ky knowing full well.
- Occidental Otaku: She loves manga, her favorite comics being "Black Wings, Kaminari".
- Official Couple: with Rudy, from Chapters 8-16. They break up when Rain realizes she does not reciprocate Rudy's feeling for her, and they remain good friends.
- And then with Emily from Chapter 29 onward
- Secret-Keeper: She's initially the first person to whom Emily reveals her pregnancy, and as well as Ana's past.
- Ship Tease: Tons of it with Emily before their Relationship Upgrade.
- Shrinking Violet: For the most part she's very shy and soft-spoken. She grows out of this as the comic goes on, becoming more and more confident.
- Strong Family Resemblance: She and Kellen look remarkably similar, before she got her hair cut.
- Traumatic Haircut: Received one in her sleep courtesy of Kellen. Needless to say she was not happy.
- Unwanted Harem: She has the tendency to attract a lot of romantic attention.
Gavin
Gavin Kurz
Voiced by: LuckyJack020
Rain's friend from childhood who she meets again in high school.
- Butt-Monkey: He is often made fun of by other characters in the early chapters for his rude behavior but sometimes he just gets stuck in embarassing situations. He becomes less of this as the comic goes on and becomes much less rude but is still not exempt from this status.
- The Beard: In an attempt for Maria to keep herself in the closet, he pretends to be her boyfriend. That is until Chapter 9 when she finally comes out.
- Childhood Friend: With Rain, who he knew back when she was Ryan. The two of them were friends for years until she moved away.
- Discriminate and Switch: It at first appeared that Gavin was upset with Rain when they reunited because he had a problem with her being trans, but it was actually because he did not know Rain had always felt this way and took it personally that Rain kept this from him.
- Incompatible Orientation: With Maria, which leads to him being her beard for a while, and with Rain. He is actually relieved that his feelings are not requited, as he doesn't feel pressured to act on them.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While he could have been less rude about it, Gavin makes a valid point that friends should tell each other secrets.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Doesn't mean to be rude, but often makes harsh comments about his friends. He's gotten better in later chapters.
- Official Couple: With Ana by Chapter 44. He's planning on proposing to her by the end of the epilogue.
- Perma-Stubble: Gavin has a perpetual stubble.
- Ship Tease: Had a lot with Rain in the beginning but after she came out as sapphic his crush on her dissipated has since moved on to showing interest in Ana.
- Stupid Sexy Flanders: Fantasizes about Rain, and Rudy (as Ruby) catches his eye more than girls do. He picks up on the trend and gets confused about just what's going on with him, but it's ultimately a Red Herring: between Rain's preoccupation with passing and Rudy's way of getting dolled up to the nines, what's going on is Gavin's attracted to femininity, making him straight.
- Straight Man: He is this both figuratively and literally to Rudy, as well as to much of the main cast. Often acting pretty levelheaded and calm when faced with most of the gang's outlandish personalities and often ridiculous situations they find themselves in.
- Time-Passage Beard: In the epilogue, it's revealed that he grew his Perma-Stubble into a mustacheless chinstrap beard.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Despite his initial rejection towards Rain being transgender on the first episodes, he makes amends with Rain and still remains friends with her.
- Unlucky Childhood Friend: He has a crush on Rain, his childhood friend. But ultimately doesn't end up with her.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Rudy. They often butt-heads but they always stick together.
Maria
Maria Strongwell
Voiced by: Katie Schmidt
Rudy's sister and a no longer closeted lesbian.
- Big Sister Instinct: She's very protective of Rudy, often defending him from bullies like Todd.
- Closet Gay: On the first chapters, as she doesn't want to give herself unwanted attention, as her plans to come out of the closet to her parents alongside Rudy went poorly, given the disapproval they gave to Rudy. As the comic progresses, she outgrews this mentality and opens herself.
- Death Glare: She gives one to Todd at the Halloween Party, warning him that if she sees him hurting Rudy, she will break him.
- Opt Out: She gets expelled from St. Hallvard, but even after her expulsion is rescinded, she decides against returning and transfers to Ky's school instead. She doesn't, however, opt out of the school prom she had a ticket to.
- The Runaway: She runs away from home at the end of Chapter 34, believing that her parents will send her to a gay-curing camp upon being expelled for defending Chanel from Todd.
- The Shut-In: She becomes this after the events of Chapter 34. She only leaves Blair's apartment to go to school, and is implied to have not seen Rudy, Chanel, or any of her other friends since fleeing St. Hallvard.
- Trauma Conga Line: Chapter 34 is not kind to her. Her parents find out about her having a girlfriend and take her phone away, Todd borderline assaults Chanel, her attempt at getting him to fuck off gets her expelled, which she believes will likely result in her getting sent to a gay-curing camp by her father. Ultimately, she decides to run away.
Rudy
Rudy Strongwell
”Dude, she's a lesbian"
Click here for him after the time skip
Voiced by: Alexis Vandom
Maria's openly gay younger brother.
- Amicable Exes: Him and Rain still get along well, even after their break-up.
- Camp Gay: Unabashedly so. Rudy is effeminate, flamboyant, loves fashion, crossdresing and makes many sassy remarks. Despite this, he's actually a pretty downplayed example. As he's much more characterized by his impulsive behavior and Cannot Keep a Secret tendancies more than any gay stereotypes.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Rudy does this to his and Maria's father, sick of the way he treated them. This leads to their mother starting to grow a backbone.
- Cannot Keep a Secret: He has to be reminded to shut up pretty often. Finds out about Rain on her first day at St. Hallvard and immediately outs her to Maria and Gavin. He also accidentally outs Colette as A trans-man to Gavin when he attempts a bit of witty misdirection and fails. Gavin wasn't on to Colette in the first place, so this would've been avoided if Rudy hadn't tried to be clever.
- Cowardice Callout: When calling out Todd for the loathsome bully he is, Rudy points out that Todd has only been leaving the former alone due to Rudy's sister threatening him, and he thinks he's top dog the moment she's gone.
- Crush Blush: Has one around Ryan.
- Cure Your Gays: The reason he was sent to Catholic school; other people thought that this had happened to him when he started dating Rain. Ultimately averted; it didn't stick.
- Effeminate Voice: He doesn't speak in a stereotypically campy manner, but his voice is fairly high-pitched and androgynous as heard in The Animated Series.
- If It's You, It's Okay: How he feels about Rain, despite being predominately homosexual.
- Ultimately deconstructed. Their relationship doesn't suffer from Rudy losing his feelings for her, but from her realizing she never returned them at all. She had been flattered by the attention he paid her, and accepted the dating because she enjoyed his company, and, in her mindset, dating boys was something that "normal girls" did. Except she's only ever really been attracted to other girls, and realizes that she's a lesbian.
- Official Couple: Was this with Rain until they broke up. He gets with Ryan Dixon between Chapters 43 and 44.
- Plucky Comic Relief: He is far and away the most outwardly comedic member of the main cast and at first seems to exist mainly to provide the comic many laughs. This is Deconstructed once we truly get to know him, as its revealed that his humorous nature is a coping mechanism for all the abuse he receives.
- The Pollyanna: Despite all the issues that happen in the story, he's almost constantly smiling.
- Stepford Smiler: After his breakup with Rain, it's revealed that the constant cheer is (at times) a facade.
- Sad Clown: He eventually admits he deals with depression from all the abuse he gets for his orientation, on top of other events in his life such as his breakup and his sister running away from home, and he tries to cope by trying to make his friends laugh.
- Secret-Keeper: To Colette, who comes out as trans to him, not knowing about Rudy's reputation for gossiping. Rudy is actually trying to keep the secret, but is struggling.
- Shipper on Deck: He desperately wanted Rain to go out with Ana instead of Gavin, for some reason. Of course, that wasn't happening, because Ana is straight and Rain is more interested in Emily.
- Ship Tease: With Ryan. He is often seen blushing around him. The two are mainly just hinted as an item until the final chapter.
- The Tease: Occasionally flirts with straight guys, mostly Gavin. He doesn't really seem to mind.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: His breakup with Rain has left him with a considerable amount of bitterness. He's softened up a bit in later chapters.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Gavin. Rudy can certainly annoy him a lot and vice versa, but they are close friends.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: He has a crossdressing alter-ego named "Ruby", which allows him to expressive his more feminine tendancies more freely.
Emily
Emily Caston
- Abusive Parents: Emily's mother is NOT a nice woman. Chapter C reveals that she was very verbally abusive to Emily growing up, and when she found out she was pregnant, she called her ungrateful and a disgrace, looking forward to the day where she won't need to support her anymore. Furthermore, it's revealed she intentionally made her hook up with Chase, knowing about his flaws and issues beforehand, manipulating her into staying despite her grievances, and basically set her up for failure from the start. Is it any wonder Emily wants nothing to do with her?
- Alpha Bitch: Initially she appears to be a jerkass popular girl. Until it's revealed this is an act.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: The reason she starts to drop the act and becomes good friends with Rain, as Rain was the first person she met in a long time that was consistently nice and nonjudgemental to her.
- Beneath the Mask: Her Alpha Bitch personality is actually a fabricated persona. Beneath that, she's actually, in her own words, "awkward and antisocial and really kind of a loser"
- Character Development: Starts out as an antagonistic Alpha Bitch, but after the Halloween Party and becoming pregnant, she progresses into one of Rain's closest friends and her first girlfriend.
- Cool Big Sis: To Rain before they get together. Especially evident in comparison to Kellen.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Someone give this poor a girl a hug.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Once she becomes pregnant, she starts to melt and let others into her life.
- Everyone Has Standards: She was willing to stay in a horrible relationship with Chase because it was one of the only things her mother gave her approval for, but after figuring out that he was planning on perving on her underage classmates, she broke things off.
- Happily Married: By Chapter 44, she and Rain have eloped.
- Hates Their Parent: Emily hates her mom after suffering years of abuse, neglect, and abandonment from her.
- Hidden Depths: Knows an awful lot about sexual and romantic orientation for a (supposedly) straight girl.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: She grows past her initial threatened attitude and becomes close friends with Rain.
- May–December Romance: With Chase. It doesn't last long.
- Miss Exposition: See Hidden Depths, above.
- Occidental Otaku: Becomes this thanks to Rain's influence.
- Official Couple: With Rain.
- Parental Neglect: She was born from an unplanned pregnancy. She never knew her father, and her mother is always out of the house.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: In regards to Chase checking out Rain at the Halloween Party. While he very well have may been attracted to her, it was more because he wanted to know why she was so familiar to him than anything else.
- Teen Pregnancy: Ended up with one with her ex-boyfriend Chase as the father. She gives birth at the start of Chapter 43.
- Took a Level in Kindness: She's much nicer with Maria since she friended Rain and became part of the group,and people in general.
- "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: Her mother starved her of affection to the point that she was desperate for it, which contributes to most of her early character. After the Halloween party, she realizes it just isn't worth it. She nearly accepts her mother's offer to return home, but rejects it and stays with Rain.
- You Are What You Hate: She tells everyone how much she hates liars, while actively pretending to be something she's not.
- Yuri Fangirl: Ends up buying girls-love fancomics at Center Con.
Chanel
Chanel Montoya
Click here for her after the time skip.
A shy freshman who talked to Maria at the Halloween party.
- Ascended Extra: Introduced as a minor character and later joined the main cast following her Relationship Upgrade with Maria.
- D-Cup Distress: She's been teased and harassed for her bustiness in the past.
- Does Not Like Men: While she can be and is civil with Gavin and Rudy, she's generally uncomfortable around them, and doesn't seek their presence.
- In a Rain Delay, she's shown tossing every message from a male fan into the garbage.note
- Friendless Background: She never really had anyone she could call a friend until she started talking to Maria and her friends.
- Nice Girl: Once she gets to know someone and decides she can open up to them, she is the sweetest thing you'll ever meet.
- Occidental Otaku
- Official Couple: with Maria.
- Shipper on Deck: She was shipping Rain and Emily even before they got together.
- Shrinking Violet: Before meeting the gang in St. Hallvard, Chanel was a quiet, shy girl who didn't have any friends growing up, and was subjected to a lot of unwanted attention because of being rather well endowed at an early age.
- Spicy Latina: While she is of Latino heritage, this is averted in that Chanel is a nice, quiet girl who is uncomfortable around men and would rather avoid conflict if at all necessary.
- Tomboyish Ponytail: She usually wears her hair like this until her haircut in Chapter 36.
Ky[lie]
Ky[lie] Coven
- Ambiguous Gender Identity: Never assigns a label to themself although the readers and characters often refer to them as genderfluid and the author usually uses male pronouns for them in the commentary. Some days, Ky even prefers androgyny.
- Boyish Short Hair: Adding to their appearance.
- Disappeared Dad: Though not by choice, Ky's mother divorced their father and did not allow him to have contact with the children.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Ky often jokes how the group's lives feel like a soap opera or a webcomic.
- Love at First Sight: Ky has admitted to falling in love easily and has had crushes on pretty much every member of their group at some point. They've moved on since then, however, and have some concerns they wouldn't be a good partner because of their tendency to drift from one crush to the next. By 2019, while Ky's been with a lot of people, their relationships haven't lasted long. Serves as a bit of Commonality Connection with Allison, who's been confirmed to be Demisexual, and the two end up going out.
- Nice Person: Friendly, easy-going, generally understanding, and really forgiving. Despite Drew's lack of understanding and even him outing them against their will in front of his friends, Ky doesn't hold it against him and still agrees to attend prom with him in a dress. And after he protests them switching clothes with Rudy, Ky only says they're done arguing about the issue and hopes Drew at least has fun at prom.
- Out of Focus: Happens a lot, given that they are the only main teen that doesn't go to St. Hallvard until the events of Chapters 34 and 35, when Maria transfers to the same school as Ky.
- Polyamory: Is confirmed by
Word of God to be Polyamorous. They also once casually mention that they would have been interested in a three way with Chanel and Maria. - Ship Tease: With Drew. There's clearly mutual attraction, and the two try dating a few times, but Drew's ignorance and insensitivity often grinds these attempts to a halt.
- "Shut Up" Kiss: Gives one to Drew after he starts asking a little too much about Rain.
- Stepford Smiler: Ky makes a lot of jokes and is generally a laid-back person. However, they also struggle with identity issues and a really bad relationship with their family aside from Heather.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Ky's gender expression is usually presented artistically by whether or not they're wearing a hairclip.
Ana
Anastacia Rubina
- Dark and Troubled Past: People have tried to hurt her in the past for things she's had no control over. She wants to move past it and just live life as a normal girl. Her mother didn't like how she wanted herself and walked out on her and her father.
- Dude Magnet: She attracts a lot of attention.
- Even the Girls Want Her: Rain is (at least physically) attracted to her. It's how she figures out she's a lesbian.
- Foil:
- To Rain. Rain comments that she's the kind of woman she want to be and she's even already gone through the transition she wants, but she has none of the confidence that Rain developed throughout the comic. Whereas Rain is comfortable enough to share her transgender status with people she trusts and hopes to one day be able to not be so closeted, Ana would rather keep it all to herself and never have to talk about it.
- Unlike nearly every other main character in the comic, who’s tragic backstories are shown glimpses of through flashbacks. Ana’s tragic past is never once given a flashback and is only told through a few yet still harrowing conversations. Leaving just how tragic her past was entirely up to your imagination.
- Held Back in School: Thanks to her moving around a lot, she's a grade lower than Rain and co. despite being around their age.
- Intersex Tribulations: According to Ana in Chapter 31, she was born with ambiguous genitalia and the doctor who delivered her recommended- and surgically decided- she should be raised as a boy. This was where all her problems began.
- Missing Mom: Her story from prom makes it clear her mother wants nothing to do with her, but Ana still misses her.
- Nice Girl: Generally soft-spoken and polite.
- New Transfer Student: Referred to as a "January Girl" to to starting at Hallvard in January.
- Official Couple: With Gavin by Chapter 44.
- Ship Tease: Gets a lot with Gavin—he obviously crushes on her, and she reciprocates a bit more subtlety.
- The Tease: Rudy thinks she is doing this to Gavin, but her reasons for not being ready to date are completely justified.
- Yaoi Fangirl: She is quite interested in Rudy's manga.
Family members
The Bryer-Flaherty Family
Fara Bryer
Fara Bryer
Rain's aunt, guardian, and art teacher at St. Hallvard. Treats Rain like her own daughter. Revealed to be engaged to Vincent as of Chapter 44, and has hyphenated her name to Bryer-Valverde.
- Amicable Exes: With Vincent. Or, at least, they were; they're officially back together as of chapters 41/42.
- Berserk Button: See Mama Bear, but generally, don't mess with Rain.
- Cool Aunt: Supports Rain
- Fiery Red Head: She has dark red hair, and can be very fierce and sharp-tongued when she wants to be.
- Mama Bear: Is not a good idea to insult or hurt Rain in front of her.
- Parental Substitute: She is this for Rain, as both her biological parents are gone, one by abandonment, and the other passing away. Later in the story, she becomes this to Emily when she distances herself from her mother.
- Secret-Keeper: She is this for Rain's transition, so she can attend the school on her true gender and protecting her from her hostile siblings until she was ready to tell them.
- What the Hell, Hero?: In Chapter 13, before kicking Aiken out, she gives a brutal one to him after his constant misgendering of Rain and the reveal that he abandoned his fiance due to being transgender, comparing his actions being similar to Marcus, who he hates.
Liriel Flaherty (Unmarked Spoilers)
Liriel Flaherty/Lorcan Bryer
"Rock that damn boat"
Rain's deceased mom/father and Fara's older sister/brother. On his testament, he request to be remembered as "Lorcan Bryer".- The Atoner: Before succumbing to his illness, he gives Fara full custody of Rain in the hope of her growing up in a healthier home, apologizes to Rain in his letter for having been neglectful and hypocritical when Rain opened up to him, and gives Rain a fair amount of money to make her transition easier financially.
- Closet Gay: Lorcan hid being transgender when he faced backlash from both his parents and his husband, focusing more on becoming a doormat for everyone. In his last letter to Rain, he lamented that this made him unhappy and encourages Rain to live a happier life than he lived.
- Cool Big Sis: Fara idolized Liriel, though she did think that Marcus was a bad influence.
- The Disease That Shall Not Be Named: Liriel died of a fatal illness before the story began. Based on Fara and Rain's discussion after Rain's Traumatic Haircut, it may have been some form of cancer.
- Extreme Doormat: Before dying, Lorcan reflected and lamented on how he focused on becoming what their parents and Marcus wanted him to be rather than being himself.
- Foil:
- To Rain. Both were transgender but faced backlash for it. Lorcan repressed his identity for his whole life, and wound up an unhappy Extreme Doormat as a result. Rain eventually found the confidence to transition, and while it led to hardship, it also made her much happier and let her make connections she may not have been able to otherwise.
- To Emily. They both got in a relationship with men nearly a decade older than them (Chase for Emily and Marcus for Lorcan) and said partners were highly abusive towards them. The difference is that Emily left Chase and eventually found a better partner in Rain, while Lorcan got married to Marcus and never escaped their abusive relationship until he passed away of illness.
- Good Parents: All of Liriel's children love and miss having Liriel in their lives. Unfortunately, he was in denial of how abusive his parents and his husband were, which sometimes clouded his ability to be there for his children, especially Rain as she wanted to change her gender just like him, as well as for Fara.
- Ironic Name: "Liriel" in the latin origin means "Perfection of a woman", which is pretty ironic considering he is in fact a transgender man.
- Last Request: On his last request, he wants to be referred as Lorcan Bryer.
- Like Parent, Like Child: Lorcan confessed in the letter that, like Rain, he wanted to change his gender and was rejected as well.
- My Greatest Failure: Before dying, Lorcan lamented repressing Rain's feelings when she opened up to him.
- Open-Minded Parent: In the last letter he wrote to Rain before dying, he confesses to Rain that he never doubted Rain, knew about her wishes to become a woman and accepted her for who she was, encouraging her to be happy.
- Parental Hypocrisy: He repressed Rain's opening up to him about her wishes of becoming a woman, when he also experienced disapproval for opening up to his parents. He laments of being aware of this, admitting it to be his greatest mistake, and making it up by sending her to live with his sister Fara in a healthier home and leaving a generous amount of money to Rain's inheritance to help cover the costs of Rain's transition.
- Posthumous Character: Liriel has been dead for about five years by the time the story starts.
- Sophisticated as Hell: In his last letter to his youngest daughter, he uses a tongue-out emoticon and tells her to "Rock the damn boat".
- Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about them without revealing something that happened close to the end of the story.
Marcus Flaherty
Marcus Flaherty
- Abusive Parents: Let's put it this way: why did Aiken finally turn his life around and decide to try and be a better person? Fara compared him to Marcus. A nightmare of Rain's heavily implies that he was much more than just verbally abusive.
- The Alcoholic: Implied by Fara in one strip, when she discusses how Chase, who's also an alcoholic, sounds exactly like the man her sister married.
- Big Bad: Of Chapter 25, when Rain dreams that she is Kaminari, as the leader of the Blood Kites. It is symbolic of how Rain feels about him in real life.
- Disappeared Dad: He vanished just before his wife died and nobody's seen him since.
- Domestic Abuse: Forbade his wife Liriel to visit Fara when he found out the latter was dating another woman, is implied to have been physically and emotionally abusive to Liriel, and abandoned everyone when Liriel got a fatal disease. In chapter 43, Liriel's letter reveals that he was disgusted by Liriel wanting to be a guy.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: We never see his eyes, just the bright glare off his glasses.
- The Ghost: He's only been described here and there, only being represented on Rain's dreams and flashbacks, but the impact he's had is clear as day.
- Greater-Scope Villain: While he's never made a full appearance to date, it was no doubt his bigoted views on LGBT issues that caused Rain to hide her true self and caused Liriel to keep hiding his true self and become a Shrinking Violet for most of her childhood and why Aiken (at first) and Kellen grew up to be unsympathetic towards their youngest sibling and LGBT people overall. Even then, however, the then-bigoted Aiken, after being smacked by Fara for his intolerance, was pissed that his aunt made a comparison between his and his father's behavior. Kellen, despite still being a bigot as of now, says that the Flaherty children were relieved about not having to deal with him anymore when he bailed. So, yeah...
- Jerkass: Virtually nothing we have seen or heard about him has been positive.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He was virulently homophobic and transphobic. He forcefully removed Rain's clothes when she discovered her sister's old clothes, when Fara was dating a woman, he forbade her from even visiting their home, and reacted in disgust when Liriel revealed to him that he wanted to be a man.
- Reduced to Dust: This is the fate that the version of him that haunted Rain's dreams faces, never to bother her again.
- Sinister Silhouettes: In the few appearances he makes on the comic, he is usually covered in darkness, with his round glasses being the only feature visible.
Aiken and Kellen Flaherty
Rain's older twin brother and sister.
Tropes associated with Aiken
Tropes associated with Kellen
Tropes associated with both
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Rain's first memory, when she is told she can't be a girl. She never forgot it and was traumatized by it, but her siblings were so used to crying and drama in the house that they don't even remember it.
- Cain and Abel: Aiken was the Cain to Rain's Abel at first, but after some soul-searching and a Jerkass Realization, he's no longer this. Kellen, on the other hand, has seemingly irrevocably become the Cain after cutting Rain's hair in her sleep. Rain refuses to have anything to do with the older sister and Kellen, in turn, tells her that she considers her embarrassing to be around. She seems to shifting on this attitude thankfully.
- Half-Identical Twins: Averted. Kellen looks more similar to Rain than Aiken, which the former is not pleased about.
- Hates Their Parent: Like Rain, they both hate Marcus for abandoning them and leaving Liriel alone before dying from cancer. Averted with Lorcan
- Jerkass: Both started out as such toward Rain. While Aiken had a realization fairly early on, Kellen's taken a much longer time to get there.
- Amicable Exes: Is this with Jess in 2019. She's even set him up with his current girlfriend, Mona.
- Became Their Own Antithesis: Fara finally seems to get through to him with an Armor-Piercing Question where she compares him to his father.
- I Hate Past Me: He's really not proud of the kind of person he used to be.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Has this realization after leaving Rain and Fara's place.
- Reformed, but Rejected: Completely understandable, given how he acted upon Jessica telling him about her trans status. When he meets with her again, she freezes up and is clearly uncomfortable just having to talk to him despite his apologies. Unlike most examples of this trope, Aiken himself quickly sees it won't work out and leaves wishing her the best, complete with tears in his eyes.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Aiken was initially a transphobic Jerkass who left his fiancee and refused to accept Rain. After a realization and a ton of research on the subject, he's now become one of Rain's biggest supporters, even calling her "baby sis," and attempted to patch things over with Jessica.
- First thing he does after seeing Jess again in Chapter 38? Offers her pizza.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Gives one to Kellen after she forcefully cuts Rain's hair when she was sleeping instead of talking things with her like he suggested, pointing out how she betrayed Rain's trust and that she needs to apologize if she want to have any kind of relationship with Rain.
- The Antagonist: While Quenton, Chase, and Marcus are all major villains, they don't actively try to harm Rain in the present, even Marcus who really did harm Rain is a threat from the past. But Kellen actively and blatantly goes against Rain at every possible opportunity she can. At least, before the two eventually reconciled.
- Disowned Sibling: Rain disowns her after the hair incident and writes her off as a lost cause. It seems like she and Rain start trying to repair their relationship in Chapter 44.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Kellen's not so much evil as she is ignorant, unsympathetic and selfish, but she lets Chase have it when she finds out he's the one who got Emily pregnant.
- Freudian Excuse: Vincent theorizes that Kellen's main issue is not truly based on her being inherently transphobic, but on serious abandonment issues that were created with her parents dying and running out on her. Said issues were likely intensified by Chase breaking off their engagement. It's implied she harbored disdain for Jessica because she feared she was taking Aiken away from her, since neither of them knew she was transgender at the time. In her eyes, the female "Rain" is taking "Ryan", the baby brother she had known all this time. Marcus' influence probably didn't help matters.
- Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: While Rain decide to forgive her in the final chapter, she will never live it down the fact that Kellen cut her hair without her consent.
- Irony: In her character bio, it's mentioned that Kellen doesn't like being ignored, yet her actions seem to be all but assuring that Rain (and possibly Fara) will spend possibly the rest of their lives ignoring her. Even Aiken seems to be losing his patience with her bigotry and is only staying with her because he has nowhere else to go for the moment.
- Malicious Misnaming: She intentionally misgenders both Rain and Jessica. She very much drops this after she starts to realize how much she's hurt the people she love.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Finally comes to the realization of how much she's been hurting her family after her talk with Heather.
- Never My Fault: Prefers to blame Rain for getting upset at her prejudiced actions, calls Emily a Social Justice Warrior for trying to explain basic facts and accuses everyone who supports Rain of encouraging a disgusting fetish. Aiken and later Vincent rightfully point out that she's full of it. During the talk with Heather, though she starts like this, she eventually realizes that yes, it is her fault.
- No Social Skills: Not exactly touched upon so far in the actual story, but even when Kellen's not being transphobic, she still often puts her foot in her mouth which makes her seem much more jerkish than she actually is.
- Official Couple: With Heather by Chapter 44, much to Rain's surprise.
- Traumatic Haircut: Inflicts this on Rain while she was sleeping. This heinous act is what makes Rain disown her. Even after six years, the two of them starting to repair their relationship, and Rain even liking her short hair eventually, Rain will never let her live down, which Kellen, rightfully, understands.
Liriel and Fara's parents
Mr and Mrs. Bryer
The parents of Liriel LorcanFlaherty and Fara and the grandparents of Rain.
- Abusive Parents: They constantly disapproved of Fara's goal of becoming a teacher, insulting her chosen profession, and when Lorcan came out to them, his mother gaslit him into believing he was making it up, and his father was disgusted by him.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: They didn't support Fara becoming a teacher or Lorcan wanting to change his gender.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Liriel and Fara's mother, who insulted Fara's chosen proffession and gaslighted Lorcan into believing that he was making up his trangenderism.
- The Ghost: Their only appearance was on chapter 43, where Fara discusses with Rain about her bad experiences with them, and on the final letter Liriel gave to Rain in a flashback where they gaslit Lorcan into denying his desired gender.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: They gaslight Lorcan into thinking that he was making up being transgender.
The Strongwell Family
Norman and Donna Strongwell
Maria and Rudy's parents. Very religious and homophobic.
- Abusive Parents: To put it very mildly. Norman more than Donna, it seems as Donna feels remorse and takes responsibility for Maria running away.
- Cure Your Gays: They sent Rudy and Maria to catholic school and did everything in their power to try and "fix" them after they came out. When they got the sense it didn't work, Norman started doing research on homosexual conversion camps.
- Everyone Has Standards: Despite disagreeing with their children sexuality, Donna prefers to have them being gay rather than them either running away from home or being sent to a conversion camp.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: They punish Rudy and Maria by taking away their phones as punishment. When Maria runs away, they can't track her as Donna points out he took out Maria's phone previously in the morning.
- Jerkass: Norman especially.
- Kick The Son Of A Bitch: Norman threatens Rudy with camp again after Donna warns him to stop or else, and she throws him out.
- Mama Bear: When Maria runs away, and her husband threatens Rudy to be sent to a camp, Donna defends Rudy from him, warning him to stop, and kicks him out of the house when he ignores her warning.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Donna tends to blame everything on herself as it is but this is especially present during the aftermath of chapter 34.
- Never My Fault: Norman seems more willing to lay all the blame on Maria for running away from home than accepting it himself.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Norman, mostly, but both are quite homophobic, even considering homosexuality to be a disease.
- Shrinking Violet: Donna, most of the time, in contrast to Norman, who is a Large Ham.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Donna after Maria runs away. She tries to be better to Rudy, as even if she doesn't agree with him being gay, it's clear she'd rather have him be gay than not have him at all.
Granny Strongwell
Grandma Strongwell
Maria and Rudy's supportive grandmother.
- Cool Old Lady: Very supportive of Rudy and Maria and is pretty laidback all around.
The Coven Family
Heather Coven
Heather Coven
Ky's older sister. She is dating Kellen as of chapter 44.
- A Day in the Limelight: She and Jess in Chapter 38.
- Brutal Honesty: Non-malicious example, but she has no tolerance for Jess constantly dodging around why they came to visit Aiken and straight-up tells him they're there for closure.
- She also straight-up admits she doesn't like Kellen, whom she just met.
- Green-Eyed Monster: She admits to Jess that, because of her condition, she was jealous of Ky for having the femininity that she never got. She's not proud of it.
- Kissing Under the Influence: Has already happened twice with Fara and Jess. Its implied that she does this fairly often.
- No Periods, Period: Justified with her being born with CAIS, she doesn't have a uterus or ovaries, so she's never had a period. This lead to a very awkward situation when Ky had her first period when their mother wasn't home and Heather had no idea what to do.
- Official Couple: With Kellen by Chapter 44, much to Rain's surprise.
- Promotion to Parent: When she moved out for college, she took Ky with her.
- Took a Level in Kindness: While she was nowhere near as awful to Ky as their parents, she did treat their genderfluidity as a weird hobby. With time, however, she's become a lot more supportive.
The Caston Family
Emily's Mother
Mrs. Caston
Emily's unnamed mother. Usually away on business trips.
- Abusive Parent: She's always out of the house, and when she is home, she is verbally abusive towards Emily. She intentionally paired her up with an older man who was notorious for his cheating and drinking problems, manipulating her into staying, and after Emily got pregnant, she had no sympathy for her, claiming she'd be all too happy to finally be rid of her once she graduates.
- The Ghost: She's always mentioned in passing, and is always silhouetted, but the impact she has on Emily's life is always present.
- Hypocrite: She mercilessly admonishes Emily for getting pregnant via premarital sex, despite being the one responsible for pairing her up with the person who got her pregnant in the first place and emotionally manipulated her into staying with him. Not to mention how Emily herself was apparently conceived under similar circumstances.
- No Sympathy: She calls Emily a disgrace once she finds out she got pregnant by Chase
St. Hallvard
Students
Aidyn
Aidyn Vintage
A socially-awkward slacker who is afraid of commitment.- The Slacker: He barely does any studying, or really anything for that matter.
Brett
Brett Desrocher
"Stop making noises like that. It's distracting."
The January Boy.- The Misophonic: He despises loud noises and annoying sounds. Finding them to be distracting.
- Out of Focus: He essentially disappears as the comic goes on.
- The Quiet One: He very rarely talks.
Colette
Colette Dixon/Ryan Dixon
- Crash-Into Hello: Meets Rudy (as Ruby) for the first time when the two bump heads in a restroom at the mall.
- Deadpan Snarker: Has given a few snarky comments here and there, with one notably after Todd gets rejected yet again:Well, fifty-seventh time's the charm. I'm sure someone will love him for his warm personality.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Subverted. Prior to his new name being revealed in-universe, the author explicitly said that it was okay to call him Colette, to make a point that all trans people go at their own pace in their transition.
- Official Couple: He gets together with Rudy in the intervening years between Chapters 43 and 44.
- One-Steve Limit: Played with. He picks "Ryan" as his name, inspired by Rain's mishap at prom...not knowing that Ryan is Rain's own deadname.
- Straight Gay: He's only attracted to guys, unlike Rudy, he displays no stereotypically gay mannerisms.
- Twofer Token Minority: One of the few black students at St. Hallvard we've seen and is later confirmed in Chapter 35 to be a gay trans boy.
Debbie
Debbie Gero
Associated tropes
- Character Development: While her snarky and sardonic personality remains intact throughout, she starts to get over her jealousy and petty hatred of Rain that destroyed her and Emily's friendship. She starts to regret what she's done, and tries to support Emily and Rain (despite still disliking her) and it eventually leads to Emily and her repairing their friendship.
- Deadpan Snarker: She makes a lot of snarky comments. It is lampshaded by Emily that Holly's bubbly, loud nature balances out Debbie's constant deadpan demeanor.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Wears glasses and is very rude. After Emily asks Holly to report any bullying Todd did to them, Debbie starts gets better.
- Green-Eyed Monster: She is not fond of Emily and Rain's close relationship.
- Jerkass: She clocks Rain and practically blames her for Emily's pregnancy. Rain shuts her down, however. But...
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She is the one who convinces Emily to stay with Rain instead of going back to her mom at prom, even if she doesn't like Rain. Earlier that chapter, she complimented Rain's dress, and then later gets upset when Rain is announced as the prom king, saying that she is a girl.
- Jerkass Realization: After Emily asks Holly to report any bullying Todd did to them, they start to realize how much they missed being around Emily, and how shitty they were to her.
- Never My Fault: She pins all the blame for Emily distancing herself from her on Rain. After she threatens to tell the whole school Rain is a boy, Rain points out that it would only drive a bigger wedge between her and Emily. She was just scared Debbie and Holly would abandon her after she revealed she's pregnant, which they did.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Not a villain in the traditional sense, but she is antagonistic to Rain and is somewhat homophobic. She grows out of this however, eventually accepting Emily's relationship with Rain.
- We Used to Be Friends: With Emily. After Emily's pregnancy, Emily starts spending more time with Rain and less with Debbie because Emily feels more comfortable confiding in Rain. As detailed above, she pins the blame on Rain. After prom, she, Holly, and Emily start to rebuild their friendship on proper terms.
- With Friends Like These...: Despite claiming that she's Emily's best friend, Rain calls her out on not being there to support her after she reveals her pregnancy, and instead choosing to focus more on resenting Rain.
- This is subverted at prom. She was going to go to Emily to harass her about how Rain got Chanel into prom, but chose to let it go when she saw that Emily was in distress about her mother returning home, and encouraged her to stay where she was instead.
Drew
Drew Borelli
A senior at St. Hallvard who becomes fascinated with Ky after meeting them at a Halloween party.
- Ambiguously Gay/Ambiguously Bi: He's still not certain. He admits to still being attracted to girls, though he's also apparently noticed some of the guys at school as well. He's also attracted to Ky regardless of how they're presenting.
- Cure Your Gays: After he finds himself thinking about Ky, he asks Rudy (who's dating Rain at the time) about how to cure himself of "gay feelings." Obviously, there is no answer.
- Easily Forgiven: Subverted. Ky is quick to forgive him for his past behavior, but Rudy understandably still isn't. He does hope Drew keeps making progress, but isn't ready to forgive him.
- Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: Good lord. After seeing Ky once at the Halloween party, he finds himself attracted to them, but continually asserts that he's not gay. He seems more afraid of what other people think about him than of actually being gay himself. At prom, it finally gets through to him how damaging that's been for him and for Ky. See Jerkass Realization.
- As it turns out, Drew was the reason Todd Bittner started bullying Rudy, because in his attempts to hide his insecurities about his orientation, he often insulted Rudy using homophobic slurs, loudly and in public. At one point in school, Todd overheard, and according to Rudy, that was when Todd started using him as a punching bag.
- Innocently Insensitive: He's not very nuanced on LGBT matters, though he's quick to apologize when he unintentionally says something hurtful.
- Ends up very harshly deconstructed. He says some very hurtful things without thinking, outs Ky in front of his classmates, and continually misunderstands their genderfluidity. His constant mixed messages lead to Ky wondering whether he really likes them or just the idea of them. Ky decides that the two just aren't compatible at this point in their lives and maybe they should call it off.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While he could have handled the situation with Rudy and Ky's outfit switch at prom better, his fears of being bullied because of it were valid. Ultimately, though, nobody does.
- Jerkass Realization: Some careful contemplation at prom leads to him coming to the realization that he's only ever thought of Ky as a girl who likes to dress up as a boy, and that meant he didn't have to wonder if he's gay. It finally gets through to him what everyone's been telling him: trying to make things easy for him only made them hard for Ky, and knows that's the last thing he wants. Rain and Ana assure him he's not a bad person, he just has a lot to learn, and that he should apologize to Ky and do more research on his own time.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Given the look on his face and the way he talks after he runs into Rain and Emily, it's clear he seriously regrets hurting Ky. He decides to sit prom out, but offers them his tickets to ensure Ky can still attend with them.
- Never My Fault: He starts with this kind of attitude at first, but quickly drops it after getting to know Ky.
- Open Mouth, Insert Foot: He does this far too often for his own good.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: He brings up the idea that Rain is a boy, but wonders if she's genderfluid like Ky except always in girl mode. Seems he doesn't even know what being transgender is.
- Ship Tease: With Ky.
- With Friends Like These...: His only friend that doesn't give him any grief or judgement for not being straight is Randy. Ky tells him straight up that he needs better friends. Something he comes to agree with when he tells Rob he's a shitty friend, thankfully this gives Rob a wakeup call which leads to him genuinely apologising.
Holly
Holly O'Neill
A senior at St. Hallvard. She’s close friends with Emily, and isn’t very intelligent.
- Character Development: Not quite as much as Debbie, but she starts to become more aware of how her actions affected Emily and ruined their friendship. Though she still doesn't quite understand LGBT+ matters, she does try her best so she can understand Emily better and repair their friendship.
- The Ditz: She's described as a cute, but stereotypically dumb cheerleader.
- Dumbass Has a Point: For all her cluelessness, she can be surprisingly insightful and spot-on at times.
- Innocently Insensitive: Like Drew, she's not very nuanced on LGBT matters. on a lot of things for that matter. After she, Debbie, and Emily make up, she does start to become a lot more nuanced on LGBT+ matters, but not by a lot.
- Jerkass Realization: After Emily asks Holly to report any bullying Todd did to them, they start to realize how much they missed being around Emily, and how shitty they were to her.
- Nice Girl: She's sweet, if not a bit airheaded.
- Relationship Upgrade: With Devon.
- Sarcasm-Blind: Emily's sarcastic remarks frequently go over Holly's head.
- We Used to Be Friends: With Emily. After Emily's pregnancy, Emily starts spending more time with Rain and less with Holly because Emily feels more comfortable confiding in Rain. However, after prom, she, Debbie, and Emily start to rebuild their friendship on proper terms.
- Youthful Freckles
Madison
Rob
Robert Roberts
Drew's friend. He's quite abrasive and rude to.
- Alliterative Name: Robert Roberts
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Rob tries to play off his bigotry as a joke, Drew asks him "Have I ever laughed?"
- I Was Just Joking: He eventually reveals that he genuinely did not know he was hurting Drew or Randy with his queerphobic jokes and sincerely apologizes for it.
- Jerkass: Rob makes plenty of homophobic jokes around his friends and especially towards Drew. As well as being pretty rude in general. But...
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Near the end of the comic he reveals that he legitimately never meant hurt anyone and that his homophobic remarks and teasings were meant to be harmless fun. He promptly stops making queerphobic jokes once Drew finally calls him out on it.
- "Just Joking" Justification: At first it seems like his "just a joke" justification for his bigoted remarks are just a thinly veiled made-up excuse. Until he clarifies that he legit didn't know he was offending anyone.
- Repetitive Name: His first name is basically just his last name, but without an s.
Todd
Todd Bittner
A junior at St. Hallvard, and Rudy’s frequent bully.
- The Bully: Todd will pick on or even harass any defenseless student, especially Rudy.
- Fiery Redhead: His hair is bright orange and he's definitely not a quiet type.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Rudy tells Todd that he doesn't care how hard his life has been because everyone suffers in one way or another, but most people he knows try to be decent people.
- Hate Sink: He's a malicious, xenophobic, and violent bully who aims to harm just about any student who's vulnerable. It's safe to say nobody likes him, both in-universe and out.
- Jerkass: To put it very mildly. He's rude, antisocial, and just unpleasant to be around.
- Karma Houdini: He gets physical with Chanel for rejecting him and almost gets punched by Maria for it. Father Quenton witnesses the almost punch and expels Maria, disregarding her insistence that Todd was the one who started it. It's also mentioned that Todd's bullying of Rudy went unpunished in the past, even after breaking one of the latter's ribs.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: It turns out that, at the very least, Father Quenton had been receiving generous bribes for looking the other way at Todd's bullying. After the above incident, Brother Arthur gather a mountain of evidence of all of Todd's ignored bullying and forwards it to the diocese. The resulting investigation exposes the bribery, and while Todd isn't officially expelled, he is transferred out and placed into rehab with the bribe money.
- No Social Skills: Aside from being a bully, he flat out just does not know how to talk to people. He is awful to everyone, and yet somehow does not understand why nobody likes him.
- Parental Neglect: Highly implied to be why he acts the way he is. Rather than teach Todd proper behavior, his parents simply bribe Father Quenton to ignore his foul actions.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He's not fond of "queers" and constantly bullies Rudy over it. Also, a mean-spirited glance and grunt at Colette (who is black) imply that he may be a racist on top of that.
- When asking Emily to the prom, Emily demands why he'd want to go out with the "pregnant girl" that everyone is spreading rumors about. His response? "Just means you're easy, yeah?" Wow...
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Apparently his parents have been bribing Father Quenton to ignore his behavior.
School staff
Brother Arthur
Brother Arthur Feltman
The dean of students, as well as a math teacher. Becomes the interim principal when Father Quenton is fired.
- The Atoner: Is kind to Rain to make up for the way he treated his transgender brother.
- Additionally, he takes responsibility for his role in the fact that the school's failure to hold Todd accountable for his behavior ultimately lead to Maria being expelled, and is determined to make things right as much as he can.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has a scar on his left cheek.
- Good Shepherd: As progressive as a Catholic monk in academia gets. Harps on the kids' grades without using their status as a threat.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Downplayed early on. The most he can do for the main cast is warn them about causing trouble, because he just doesn't have the authority to help them if they do get in trouble, and Father Quenton, who does have that kind of authority, is not as sympathetic as he is. Later though, after Maria ends up running away after her unjust expulsion, the potential endangerment of a student motivates him to take matter into his own hands. As a result, Father Quenton is ousted from his position, Todd, a bully who's been endangering several students unpunished, also gets removed, and Arthur himself becomes intern headmaster, resolving alot of problems and putting him in a position where he can better help.
- Secret-Keeper: Deduced Rain's identity, and is willfully keeping it from the school administration (which would use it for nefarious purposes).
Father Quenton
Father Quenton Morrison
The principal.
- Bald of Evil: Implied, given that he wears a Dodgy Toupee.
- Disproportionate Retribution: He once gave Gavin a week of detention because he'd let his facial hair grow out too much.
- He also asks Brother Arthur to reprimand Rudy and Rain for "Lewd conduct" in the halls. "Lewd conduct" in this case translates as "holding hands and hugging."
- As surprising as it may sound, his expelling of Maria is not this. While Maria may have stopped herself from actually punching Todd (to protect Maria), the fact that she tried at all still made her break the zero-tolerance policy of violence on school grounds, even more so in a Catholic school. The fact that he dismissed Todd starting the fight, refusing to listen to Chanel's testimony about the incident, and the reveal that he was bribed by Todd's parents to ignore Todd's awful behavior undermines this.
- Every Man Has His Price: He accepts the bribes that Todd's parents give to him in return to ignoring their son's awful behavior
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Somehow, he didn't think that Brother Arthur was going to be suspicious about how hastily and unfairly he handled the situation with Todd and Maria. It ends up being what finally gets him caught.
- Jerkass: He's described as evil incarnate.
- Chapter 34 has him expel Maria from school due to almost punching Todd for hurting Chanel. In spite of Maria and Arthur's protests, he refuses to punish Todd or get Chanel's testimony for what happened in spite it.
- Plot-Irrelevant Villain: While he is a cause for serious concern whenever he shows up, his actual relevance in the overall story is pretty minor. At least, until Chapter 34, when he delivers a wham and expels Maria from St. Hallvard for getting aggressive with Todd.
Other characters
Jessica
Jessica Li
”Amen Sistah"
Aiken's former fiancee, now staying with Rain and Fara.
- A Day in the Limelight: With Heather in Chapter 38 after being absent for 6 consecutive chapters.
- Amicable Exes: Is this with Aiken in 2019. She's even set him up with his current girlfriend, Mona.
- Cool Big Sis: Rain seems to idolize her.
- Kissing Under the Influence: One night, when she and Heather are drinking together, things get a little...intimate between them. Nothing happens, although Heather does see enough to learn that Jess is transgender. And decides to share her own secret in return.
- Not a Morning Person: Gets a bit grumpy when woken up sooner than she wants.
- Secret-Keeper: Becomes one for Heather after a drunk near-encounter with her.
- Statuesque Stunner: She is 6'1, and is a bit self conscious about it.
- Trans Equals Gay: Discussed. In a conversation with Heather, Jess originally believed she was a gay male up until she was in her late teens, when she met other trans people through a chatroom.
Vincent
Vincent Valverde
Jessica and Rain's therapist.
- Alliterative Name: V.V. Also applied before his name change.
- With Fara. Or, at least, they were; they're officially back together as of chapters 41/42.
- Artistic License: In real life, it would be considered unprofessional for Vincent to work with Kellen, especially when she comes to his house on his day off. Even him continuing to work with Jessica would be ethically questionable given that she lives with the woman he is seeing and was engaged to her nephew.
- This is averted with Rain, however, as he terminates her as a client after writing her letter due to the conflict of interest.
- D-Cup Distress: He used to be quite "gifted," much to his displeasure. Though he'll make jokes about it.
- New Old Flame: Dated Fara prior to his transition.
- Mentor in Queerness: Given that Vincent is a therapist, he's this to Rain and Jessica. Often giving plenty of great insight when it comes to gender and orientation due to his experience.
- Nice Guy: He is easy going and friendly to everyone, rarely showing anger towards anyone.
- The Runaway: He ran away from Fara and his band because he believed he was an inconvenience to everyone. He deeply regrets it.
- There Are No Therapists: Averted, obviously. Talk therapy is a critical part of transition, and the series doesn't shy away from showing the good and the bad of the process.
Allison
Allison Regent
Click here to see her.
An old friend of Gavin and Rain.
- Childhood Friends: With Rain and Gavin.
- Girlish Pigtails
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: She accepts that things won't work out with Rain, but still encourages her to confess her feelings to Emily. Serves as a Meaningful Echo in Chapter 44, where Rain says the same thing to her when she decides to gives things a chance with Ky.
- Incompatible Orientation: Why she knows things wouldn't work out with her and Rain. Chapter 42 calls this into question; see Single-Target Sexuality below.
- Nice Girl: She encourages Rudy (as Ruby) not to get discouraged about dating, since there has to be someone out there for both of them. She also helps encourage Rain, fixes her make-up, convinces her to confess to Emily, apologizes for her past behavior, and asks her to keep in touch.
- Secret-Keeper: Rain revealed that she's trans to Allison some time before the events of the comic. Given that she never outs Rain to Gavin and Rudy until she learns they already knew, it's clear she's not exactly loose-lipped with this secret.
- Single-Target Sexuality: It's implied that, regardless of gender, Allison still has feelings for Rain. This eventually takes the form of her realizing she may be demisexual. Chapter 44 subverts this by when she asks Ky out.
- Unlucky Childhood Friend: Allison has had feelings for Rain, at least back when she was Ryan, since first grade. The latter also shared her feelings, but they never dated because of Rain's complicated situation. Unfortunately for Allison, this made dating someone else very difficult. While she laments that she's not over Rain by Chapter 43, Chapter 44 has her asking Ky on a date, suggesting she's at least started to move on.
- Youthful Freckles
Chase
Chase Brenton
Emily's ex-boyfriend.
- The Alcoholic: He drinks a lot, and has been known to end relationships with people who have asked him to cut back. This vice costs him his freedom, getting arrested after he attacked someone while he was drunk
- Big Bad Duumvirate: In Emily's arc, Chase shares the role of Big Bad with Emily's mother. He is a much bigger threat and is the one who abused and impregnanted Emily, while Emily's mother is the reason he and Emily hooked up in the first place.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Women flock to him because he is good-looking and charismatic, but then they realize what he really is like.
- Ephebophile: Dated Emily for a while and, as if he weren't creepy enough, he seems to have a thing for teenagers in general.
- Foreshadowing: His first appearance at the Halloween party has him dressed as a devil.
- Goatee of Evil: He's a vile, creepy jerkass and has a goatee to go with it.
- Hate Sink: The comic makes it pretty clear that his purpose is to be a sleazy, awful guy whom everyone, both in-universe and out, should hate, and for very good reasons.
- Jerkass: He's a major sleazeball, jackass, and sex offender.
- Jerkass Has a Point: When he calls out Emily for her behavior during the Halloween party and the fact that, two months after she broke up with him and stopped talking to him, she wants to get back together. Of course, it's undermined by the fact that Emily is pregnant with his child.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Chase may have gotten away with impregnating and abandoning Emily, but karma eventually catches on him as he ends up getting arrested for attacking someone while drunk.
- May–December Romance: With Emily. It didn't last long, especially since she was just dating him to get some approval from her deadbeat mom.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He outs Rain to her brother Aiken on the week Rain was pretending to still be Ryan.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Emily very heavily implies that the act that got her pregnant was not consensual.
- Rich Bastard: He comes from a wealthy family and is quite a bastard.
- Upper-Class Twit: It is implied that he willingly does not have a job and mostly gets his financial needs from his rich family.
Carver
Blair Carver
One of Emily's earlier exes and a graduate of St. Hallvard.
- Amicable Exes: He and Emily had not talked for almost a year, but they are this now.
- Establishing Character Moment: In a text to Emily, he asks her if she's really pregnant and if the baby is his, but makes it clear he's just joking and asks her if she needs any help. And after she reveals that she and Rain are dating, he's nothing but supportive and happy for her.
- The Ghost: He's first mentioned in Chapter 28, and finally makes his appearance in Chapter 35.
- Last-Name Basis: He hates his first name and prefers to be called Carver.
- Nice Guy: Carver is an immensely kind and caring person. When Maria is expelled from school and runs away from home, Emily asks if it's okay if she can stay with him and his boyfriend. Carver is not only accepting, he comes to pick her up himself. And after Maria spends several days working on Chanel's dress for prom, he and Isaac try to cheer her up and encourage her not to burn herself out.
- Polyamory: It is implied that he is polyamorous. Emily once describes him as Pan, "among other things", and he has a reputation for being a flirt. Later confirmed in Chapter 42 that he was dating Emily and Isaac at the same time, all parties are respectful.
- The Tease: He seems to enjoy flirting with people, albeit in a non-serious manner.
Carmen
Carmen Jimenez
The protagonist of another of the author's stories, who Rain meets visiting therapy.- Ambiguously Brown: She may be Hispanic, going by her name.
- Hero of Another Story: She's one of the protagonists of Magical
, another of the author's stories. - Magical Girl
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Averted. While her magical girl outfit is predominately black, gray, and red, she's a heroic character and seems to be a very nice girl.
- Shared Universe: Her appearance in the comic and Word of God have confirmed that Rain and Magical take place in the same universe.
- The Straight and Arrow Path: Her weapon as a Magical Girl.
