Tripod Character Guide

Hey, it’s Jaime. I figured by now there are so many people in my story that it might help to have a cheat sheet. All of these images are AI-generated. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. 

JAIME FINE-CRUZ

That’s me. It’s pronounced “HI-may” and not “JAY-me.” It’s Spanish. I’m a seventeen-year-old gymnast from Evanston, Illinois. I go to Evanston West High School.  I’m 5’4” (163cm) tall. It’s my picture next to “multi-ethnic” in the dictionary. I’m part black, part Jewish, part Native Mexican and part Spanish. Sometimes my friends call me “Tripod.” Read my story to figure out why. I love to cook and make videos, sometimes at the same time.

MY FRIENDS:

TYLER JACOBS

Tyler is my friend on the gymnastics team. His dad Josh is Jewish. His mom Carol Spiwak is half Polish and half Italian. Tyler and Eddie Hondo are boyfriends, but they each used to have girlfriends and are both pansexual. I know, it’s complicated. Tyler’s is 5’7” (170cm) tall. There’s a part of him that looks like a beer can.

EDDIE HONDO

I call Eddie “Stinky” because his name sounds like the Spanish word “hediondo,” which means, you guessed it, “Stinky.” Eddie’s the smartest guy I know. He’s on the track team but is also a math genius and got almost perfect scores on his college entrance exams. He’s also a perfectionist, but he’s working on that. Eddie is Tyler’s boyfriend. He’s pansexual. Eddie is 6’2” (188cm) tall. His mom Letricia is African-American and his dad Robert is of Japanese ancestry. Eddie has one sister named Regina, but everyone calls her Reggie.

BRANDON GRIMES

Brandon’s had a tough life. His dad, the Very Reverend Bradley Grimes, is a Bible-thumping preacher who may be the world’s biggest hypocrite and an awful guy. In spite of that, Brandon is a kind, sweet, gentle soul with an awesome body, although it took us a while to figure that out. Brandon is 6’ (183cm) tall. And as he says, “really big down there.” Brandon’s mom is named Abigail and his younger brother is Braden.

DARIUS AHMADI

My cute, furry, Persian boyfriend. He’s 5’8” (173cm) tall. He goes to Evanston East High School, where he’s on the wrestling team. He’s also a scholar-athlete. He thinks he wants to be a lawyer. We met at the supermarket when his mom Yasmin sent him looking for gochujang paste. His dad is Javid, who’s a dermatologist. His mom’s an art dealer. He has a younger sister named Arianna who’s into music and keeps Darius up-to-date with the latest tunes.

SEÁN O’HANLON

Seán comes from a very Irish, very Catholic, American family. His parents insisted that “Seán” be spelled with the accent as it is in the Irish language. He has younger twin sisters named Maeve and Aoife. If you can’t figure out how to pronounce those names either, do what I did and get help online! Seán is the captain of our gymnastics team. His boyfriend is Connor Kim. Seán has the world’s greatest butt. People have walked into walls while staring at it.

CONNOR KIM

Connor is Seán’s boyfriend and looks like the lead singer for a Korean Boy Band. Connor’s parents are immigrants from South Korea and Connor’s had a tough time being gay in his family.

ASHLEY SWENSON

Ashley is the daughter of a wealthy CEO and likes to dress in designer everything but she’s really a pretty down-to-earth girl who’s willing to help out her friends

MY FAMILY:

NAYELI FINE-CRUZ

My mom. She’s a documentary filmmaker and the daughter of a Zapotec Mexican woman (my Abuela Zyanya) and a Galician Spanish man (Abuelo José). Mom loves to cook but she also loves to travel and study other cultures. She’s totally cool with my being gay. Mom has a brother named Julio Cruz.

BARRY FINE-CRUZ

My dad. He’s a creative director for an advertising agency in Chicago. He majored in English, so it was the only job he could get that would pay a decent salary! Dad is super cool, has great taste in music and also is a master at putting things in perspective. Dad’s bi-racial. His mom (Mama Bernice) is African-American and his dad (Grandpa David) is Jewish. Dad has one brother named Noah who’s a doctor.

ABUELA ZYANYA CRUZ

She met and married my grandpa in Oaxaca, Mexico and then they moved to Chicago where Abuelo got a job as a professor teaching anthropology. She’s only 4’11” (150cm) tall, but she packs a lot of energy into that small package. She’s a social worker with the Department of Children and Family Services. Besides my mom, she has a son named Julio.

ABUELO JOSÉ CRUZ

Abuelo José is the son of a wealthy family in Galicia. That’s in northwestern Spain. He became an anthropologist instead of going into the family business, then married a poor, native zapoteca and his family disowned him. He and Abuela Zyanya have been married for forty-five years now and he’s never regretted it.

GRANDMA BERNICE JOHNSON-FINE

Mama Bernice is a doctor at a woman’s health center on Chicago’s Southside. She and Grandpa David met in her clinic when he was a sales rep for a pharmaceutical company. She’s black. He’s Jewish. They started dating when that wasn’t done. They’ve also been married for over forty-five years now. Mama Bernice loves her work and will probably never retire.

GRANDPA DAVID FINE

Grandpa David met Mama Bernice at her clinic in the later 1970’s. He’s Jewish. She’s black. They got married. It wasn’t easy but they had the love of their families. They’re still together over forty years later. Mama Bernice jokes that Grandpa David is better endowed than any black man she’s ever known.

GREAT GRANDMA ESTHER FINE

At 93, Great Grandma Esther is a Holocaust survivor who was determined to get back at the Nazis by living the best life she could. She still cooks and bakes and has a wicked sense of humor. She speaks English, German, French and Yiddish.

ASHER GOLD

My adopted little brother. Thrown out of his birth family for being gay, we decided to take him in and give him a home.

NOAH FINE

My gay uncle Noah. He’s a doctor who lives in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood with his husband Jermaine.

JERMAINE ROBINSON

Uncle Noah’s Husband. An attorney in Chicago.

OTHER PLAYERS

LING YUN "LINCOLN" CHOI

Our out-and-proud chemistry teacher. Advisor to the Gay-Straight Alliance. Thrown out of his family home in China for being gay when he was headed to university in the US. A great teacher and a nice guy.

BRADEN GRIMES

Brandon's little brother, who endured unspeakable horror from his father the Very Reverend Bradley Grimes. Braden and Asher become close friends.

MIGUEL CONTRERAS

The guy who used to be the barista at He-Brew, until his life unraveled. 

SHO TAKAHASHI

The sushi delivery guy who came in from the cold and didn't want to leave. He got the surprise of his life for New Year's Eve.

OZZIE POWELL

Asher's friend and the boy looking to be Asher's first sexual experience. 

THE VERY REVEREND BRADLEY GRIMES

Braden and Brandon's awful father. He was arrested for unspeakable crimes and sent off to jail, but not after making Braden and Brandon's lives a living hell. He also committed a crime against Tyler, Eddie and me.

RON IANELLO-Another member of the gymnastics team. Straight. Into BDSM. Has a girlfriend name Stephanie.

JOSH JACOBS-Tyler's dad

CAROL SPIWAK-Tyler's Mom

LETRICIA HONDO-Eddie's Mom

ROBERT HONDO-Eddie's Dad

REGINA "REGGIE" HONDO-Eddie's Sister

MAEVE AND AIOFE O'HANLON-Seán's sisters

YASMIN AHMADI-Darius's Mom, art gallery owner

JAVID AHMADI-Darius's Dad, a dermatologist

ARIANNA AHMADI-Darius's sister and a music enthusiast

CODY BURKE-Member of the gymnastics team.

JOHN ROBERTSON-Member of the gymnastics team

MEGAN MAGNANI-Tyler's ex-girlfriend

MIA-Eddie's ex-girlfriend

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Author's Note: 

I'm sure that there are a couple of characters missing.