Blake

Blake grew up a latchkey kid, with only his older sister Blythe to keep him company. He didn't mind it much honestly, with no parents around they were free to spend hours making up games together and playing. They were pretty close, and in school they often pulled pranks together. Their father was busy with real estate and their mother spent her time as a business consultant, neither had time to discipline their mischievous children. They expected excellence from their children yes, but as long as their grades remained high everything else hardly mattered to them. So the siblings were used to getting away with things, and rarely faced real consequences aside from a harsh scolding from a teacher, or having to stand at the wall during recess. Things changed when at the start of sixth year, the siblings were put in separate classes in an attempt to curb their problematic behavior. Even though they could see each other at recess, Blake took issue with the fact they were being kept apart. Blythe moved on rather quickly and made new friends in her class, while Blake remained alone, and bitter to see her happy like this. She would rather do her hair and makeup than play swords in the forest with him. If she didn't need him, then he was determined to prove he didn't need her either. So, he joined band in school, and learned the piano. 

When they entered Cherry Creek Academy, at first Blythe continued to ignore him, even in the few classes they had together. But out of seemingly nowhere, she joined him at lunch and began chatting like nothing had ever happened. He was shocked, after being alone so long he had almost forgotten how good it felt to have a friend to talk to. Soon, things between them became tight knit once again, they were hardly seen not at each other's side. They became the most popular and most feared duo in school. Sometime during Junior year, Blythe teased she had an idea for one of their famous pranks again. Apparently, there was a rumor their classmate Liam Reid was in the closet. Blythe decided it would be funny if Blake asked him out to confirm if it was true. Blake agreed he wanted to know, and also thought it'd be fun. But the closer he got to Liam, the more unsure he became about the whole thing. When he did actually ask him on a date, he felt sick to his stomach doing it. On the night of the date, he barely spoke to him and felt awkward the entire time. After driving Liam home, he kissed him on the cheek and apologized for the lame night. He stayed home from school the whole week and ignored everyones messages. Unbeknownst to him, during his absence Blythe outed Liam, and began spreading rumors that he tried to kiss Blake, and that Blake found him gross. All of this culminated in Liam attempting to take his own life. Thankfully he survived the attempt, and the instant Blake got word of it he was at his bedside. When he woke, Blake explained everything. He and his sister had played games like this before, but nobody had gotten hurt until now. Liam told him he was wrong, even if his victims didn't try to do what he had, it still hurt them. He realized he was right, and promised he would no longer be that person. Liam wished him luck on his journey, but told him he never wanted to see him again. It pained him to leave, he felt so guilty and just wanted to spend every waking moment making it right. But he respected his wishes and kept away. When he did finally return to school, he told off Blythe in front of everyone in the lunch hall and stormed off. Later she came and visited him in his dorm, and tried to justify the things she had done. They got into a heated argument and Blake let it slip that he was also interested in men, and what she did was cruel. After that he kept his distance from Blythe, becoming more reclusive and spending most of his time in the band room, making up sad ditties on the piano. 

Being ignored infuriated Blythe, and after a few months she couldn’t take it anymore. When they returned home for half term holiday, Blythe outed Blake to their parents, who were horrified at what this might do to their image. He was practically disowned on the spot. He packed up his things and was panicking on where exactly he could go now, since he had no friends in the world aside from Blythe who he now hated. He then recalled his uncle Garth, who was estranged from the family long ago. He decided to take a chance and drive a very long way to meet his uncle. Along the way he stopped at many of America's best nature trails, and on one such trip he found a small injured Stoat. He made a makeshift animal rehab in his car, and named the creature Rune. 

Once he arrived, he asked around and eventually found out his uncle owned the local drive-in theater. At first he was scared and nervous to meet the weird uncle no one in his family ever talked about, but Garth himself was the kindest (and maybe loudest?) uncle he could’ve asked for. Unfortunately owning a drive-in these days doesn’t exactly bring in the big bucks, and Garth himself lived in a trailer on the property. He was sad he had no place for Blake, but knew some apartment owners who were good people, and they happened to have a vacancy. Luckily partway through his trip across the country, he sold his parents very expensive Birthday Gift car, and used the money to purchase a more modest one. He still had a sizable sum left over from the sale, and was able to put money down for the apartment right away.