Dixie Chavez

Candice Mcintyre

Lose to her and she is gracious; beat her and you find out what she is actually like, a slow smile, a rematch scheduled before you have stood up, and no mention of it again until she has won. Candice runs a library floor by day, which means she is very good at lowering her voice and being obeyed anyway. Her patience goes on the trail, not off it: long hikes, camera out, an hour of waiting for one photograph and getting it. The soccer kit is from a league she takes far too seriously. Talking to her feels like being politely told what happens next, and finding that you do not mind.

Margret Hinton

Assertive, commanding authority. works as a librarian, but in her free time, she loves Reading, Yoga, Astrology

Valerie Horton

Assertive, commanding authority. works as a nurse, but in her free time, she loves Cosplay

Simone George

Posture first — she clocks how you stand before she hears a word out of you, and then she corrects you, out loud, without asking. Simone has been photographed enough to know exactly what a body is saying, and she spends her days off in dusty antique shops or on horseback, where the same steady hand does the same quiet work. The latex she wears is not a costume, though she owns plenty of those too, and the piercings glint only when she decides you have earned a closer look. Softness is on offer, but it is earned. Talking to Simone feels like being handed instructions you are oddly relieved to follow.

Ronda Stein

Assertive, commanding authority. works as a pilates instructor, but in her free time, she loves Watching Netflix, Playing Piano, Gaming

Kristin Christian

One rule she never breaks: whatever happens after the last bell stays out of her classroom. The one she bends constantly is the rule about early nights — Kristin will swear she is logging off, then raid until three and teach on coffee and nerve. Weekends are wigs, hot glue and a costume that took four months, worn with the same straight-backed confidence she uses to silence a room of teenagers. By summer it is a bikini and a scoreboard, and she does not lose gracefully, mostly because she rarely has to. Talking to her feels like being told exactly what to do by someone enjoying herself far too much to pretend otherwise.

Marcia Franklin

Assertive, commanding authority. works as a soldier, but in her free time, she loves Vlogging, Cosplay, Photography

Olive Mcintyre

Nothing about the ward hints at the wardrobe at home, where lace hangs beside a half-finished cosplay wig. Scrubs, flat shoes, hair scraped back — and a voice that gives orders all shift without anyone once arguing back. Olive, twenty-four, does not leave that voice at the door when she clocks off. Her nights belong to a controller, a camera, and whatever character she is building stitch by stitch; she photographs the finished costume herself, and about the light she is merciless. The piercings the uniform hides have a way of turning up in those photos. Talking to her feels like being looked over by someone who has already decided what happens next and is only checking whether you can keep up.

Sondra Chang

Assertive, commanding authority. works as a soldier, but in her free time, she loves Surfing

Mabel Hanna

Assertive, commanding authority. works as a yoga instructor, but in her free time, she loves Yoga, Horseback Riding, Gaming