These are the people that inhabit the universe of ‘Strange Relationship‘ – I’ve tried to include pics so that you get a sense of what each one looks like. Yes, some of them are modelled on famous people, and others are jus modelled on pics that I found on the web that seemed to match the mental image that I had of them.
Caitlin
Caitlin
Caitlin is the heroine and generally the first person narrator of the Strange Relationship stories. She’s in her late forties and has chestnut brown hair, and is in good shape. She works at a local theatre and is in charge of props and scenery, something she really enjoys. She’s also the owner of a restaurant called Kyz Kuu, which was the restaurant her husband founded and ran as head chef until the car accident that killed him. Her best friends at the theatre are Jenny, Natasha and Liz. Her lovelife consists of Richard, a drama professor at the local University. He sends some of his students to the theatre for practical experience, and that’s how he and Caitlin met. They have been together for the past couple of years, but recently – over the last couple of months – theiir love life has been practically zero. They still maintain separate houses quite close to each other, but they do stay over at each other’s houses quite regularly.
Richard
Richard is Caitlin’s boyfriend, but as mentioned above he hasn’t been particularly great in that respect lateky. He’s a professor a the local university and is around ten years older that Caitlin. He’s a huge bear of a man, and quite a workaholic. He’s also Ben’s father and thus Jodie’s father-in-law. Caitlin doesn’t know, nor does she suspect, that Richard has a very kinky side that he chooses not to share with Caitlin, instead prefering to indulge in the swingers club at The Red Dragon, a pub not fair from where Richard and Caitlin’s respective places.
Ben
Ben
Ben is, as previously stated, son of Richard, secret crush of Caitlin, husband of Jodie, and best friend of Christian. Caitlin sees him on the tram to work every morning and that’s how the crush started – to begin with she has absolutely no idea he is Richard’s son. He and his wife had been living abroad for a while, which partly accounts for why Vaitlin hasn’t met him (although obviously she’s aware of his existence – the fact that Richard won’t introduce her to his family is just one of many reasons she is dissatisfied with Richard). He works as a social worker and this brings him into contact with some rather dodgy characters. He plays football for a Sunday league football team who play on a school field near Caitlin’s house.
Jodie
Zoe/Jodie
Zoe is Ben’s wife and Richard’s daughter-in-law, and befriends Caitlin during an episode engineered by Ben to get her and Caitlin together. She works as a freelance photographer, supplementing ordinary photo assignments with shooting kinky portfolios for discerning clients who would prefer discretion. In her own way, she’s far more kinky than Ben and really will try anything once. She and Ben belong to the same swingers club at the Red Dragon as Ben’s father Richard, but she tends to go rather more than Ben does – he prefers it when she comes home and tells him all about tthe things she’s been up to. She met Ben at University, where she was cheating on Ben with another guy, Christian. Ben’s discovery of their shenanigans are the root of his obsession with voyeurism. He has also remained friends with Christian ever since then.
At one point, this character was going to be called Jodie so if you see a Jodie suddenly mentioned, it’s actually Zoe. I’ll sort it all out in time, don’t worry!
Jenny, Liz and Natasha
Jenny, Liz and Natasha
These are the girls that Caitlin catches the tram with every morning and who work with her at the theatre. They are pretty much Caitlin’s best friends despite being younger then her. She does mother then somewhat. Jenny is 28, blonde and lives with her boyfriend Dean. She’s the most out-going of the three, and most likely to elicit a marriage proposal from a stranger in under 30 seconds. She’s the office manager in the theatre. Liz is 22, has slightly darker blonde hair and is currently single, although there is someone she is interested in. She has a flat on the edge of the city centre. She works in the accounts department at the theatre. Natasha, Tash sometimes, works as ‘front of house’ which essentially means she does a wide range of jobs. She’s 26, has her own place but is supposed to be saving up to buy a place with her boyfriend. They are constantly falling out and making up with each other.
(Confession – I came up with the names first before I realised they were the names of three band members from a now defunct pop band. Once I had the names I decided I may as well use them as body templates, but it’s nothing you need to get hung up on.)
Karen
Karen
Karen is the villain of the piece. She’s the head choreographer at the theatre and as such is lean, lithe and extremely flexible. She is 28 and single with naturally flame red, and lives in her own place. She is an utter, utter bitch to everyone and has no real friends other than the girls that the theatre usually employees as dancers and extras.
Christian
Christian
Christian is one of Ben’s best friends, and a former boyfriend of Jodie’s. He’s French and works in software as a developer. He currently lives in Paris but spends a lot of time travelling.
Becky
Becky
Becky works at the lap-dancing club that Jodie and Caitlin visit on the night they first meet. They end up backstage together and the three of them have sex together in the changing room.
Liv
Liv
Liv is a teenage prostitute than Ben is supposed to be helping in his role as a social worker. In fact, he does little to put her life back on track and prefers to send trade her way, generally with the intention of watching them. He takes Cailin to her house one night in irder to make Caitlin have sex with another woman, which is something that he knows she doesn’t want to do. Liv is the opposite of his wife Jodie; she is coarse, semi-literate and poorly educated.
(Disclaimer: As I’ve mentioned before, these are only intended to serve as a guide for what my characters look like. I’m not trying to make a profit or anything from pinching other people’s works, so if anyone owns the copyright to these images and wants them removed, please leave me a comment and I will remove them immediately).
