Noelle Miyake

⚠️ CONTENT WARNING — discussions of transphobia ⚠️

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RELATIONS

• Rory Miyake (identical twin brother)
• Unnamed mother
• Unnamed father
• Claudia (paternal aunt)

LIKES -- the color purple, romance novels, burgers, ghost hunting shows, fluffy things, Christmas, small spaces

DISLIKES -- her height (dysphoria), skirts, wasting money, schoolwork, heavy researching, carrots

PERSONALITY

A very excitable and peppy girl, though at times she seems annoyingly happy with how constant it is. She can be a little pushy and bossy (usually to her brother) at times, especially whenever she gets really excited about something, but she always means well.

Noelle hides any "negative" emotions from others such as worry, sadness, or anger for fear of upsetting them, which also means she heavily bottles up her anxiety. She also doesn't like people who are downers.

She is not very talented academically, which she is sensitive about getting ragged on for. She has instead learned various methods to cheat, despite both her aunt and brother reprimanding her for it. In general, she likes to take the easy way out, which results in her doing things like never learning to tie her shoes (she ties up the laces and just uses the shoes like slip ons) and "cleaning her room" by hiding all of her belongings inside pockets of darkness. This is also why she likes to keep things light and happy and not deal with confrontation and problems. 

HISTORY

BACKGROUND

Noelle and Rory were identical twins born to a fairly conservative family. (Her deadname is not revealed, but it also used to start with an R.) Noelle was always more of a troublemaker and often got reprimanded by her parents, so she was already used to the idea of being the black sheep of the family. Rory often tried to get her to follow the rules, but to no avail. The two of them were both forced to learn an instrument, but Noelle was very bad at all instruments she tried out and eventually her parents gave up and let her quit. 

While at the school library, she found a book on gender and learned what being transgender meant. After ruminating on it for a while, she realized that she was transgender and that being identified as a girl brought her much more happiness than as a boy. She didn't come out immediately after because she wanted to decide on a new name first, and she ended up choosing "Noelle" because of her favorite holiday. She also thought that her parents would think it was cute because Christmases were the best time of the year for them as a family. 

Unfortunately, because her family never discussed LGBTQ+ things at all, Noelle didn't know that her parents were very queerphobic and didn't think about how there might be negative consequences to her coming out. When she came out at age 15, her parents were furious and said a lot of hurtful things, among them being that she had been corrupted or that she was going to become some kind of predator when she grew up. They gave her until the end of the day to pack up some things and leave. While she was packing by herself, Rory came in to help her and said that he would go with her because he didn't want her to be alone. 

Rory was able to contact their aunt Claudia for help, a woman whom they had met only a few times because she and their father were distant. However, during the trip to Claudia's house, they had to take multiple bus rides to get there and it made Noelle very afraid to be surrounded by a bunch of strangers. Her powers manifested when she had a panic attack on the third bus and she shrouded herself in the darkness under the seat. Rory knew she was under the seat, but at their stop he understandably couldn't find her under there. She was at first too afraid to come out, but she heard him call her name, which made her feel safe to reveal herself, and they were able to make their stop and transfer to the next bus in the nick of time. They arrived at their aunt's house and from then on lived with her. 

Noelle was now fully allowed to present as a girl and got to dye her hair, which she considered a big step in getting a hand in her own presentation. She and her brother started attending a new school, where she was open about being a trans girl because it was more progressive. She also began dating a boy who was three years older than her named Ethan and they dated for a year. During that year, Ethan took advantage of her being newly out and wanting people to like her by emotionally abusing and isolating her. While in this relationship she was made to be dependent on him, and she was made to feel like she needed him to guide her to "grow up." If she ever expressed any negative emotions or dislike of his treatment of her, he would make her feel like she was the villain and that she was being immature. Because she could only be happy around him, she became increasingly miserable while alone, and her aunt noticed this. She coaxed Noelle into telling her about her relationship with Ethan and quickly realized how unhealthy it was. Claudia decided to move their family away from that neighborhood and school district and change all of Noelle's contact information so she could cut all contact with Ethan. They stayed at a motel for a year while Claudia looked for a better town and school district for her niece and nephew, and without Ethan Noelle's mental health began to get a bit better and she was a lot happier, though she still retained the need to bottle up all of her emotions and remain constantly cheerful. 

The family ended up moving to Merryday, where Enya lives.

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MAIN STORY

TRIVIA

• Rory and Noelle's mother is white, but never specificed her ancestry and insists she's just American, so neither of them know their heritage on that side.