People of Daven's Port

Patricia Wade

Even her closest allies know very little about the Mayor's capable assistant and for a good reason. The globular woman has far-reaching political ambitions of her own, except they play out differently than for the politicians around her. Being pragmatic, patient and downright lazy, she prefers to stay in the wings and pull the strings. It's more fun that way. And less running about.

Given she is a bit older than Dina she must have been around for the last power change (maybe she was even behind it?). And she certainly wants to be there for the next one, too. In my finished branch of Daven's Port I hinted towards the end she was interested in supporting Dakota's bid for the Mayor's seat against Dina and I would like to expand on this, eventually, in the Corruption branch that Pink Lightning and me are working on.

If her beliefs could be summed up in a single sentence, it would be: End justifies the means. And the end is rather clear too: power. Maintaining and expanding her power base for as long as she can, to keep her high living standards, eventually passing it over to Monica.

Since very little is known about Patricia, all we can say is that there was a Mr. Wade at some point too. Perhaps he disagreed with her pragmatic views on morals, he may have disliked his wife blowing up like a balloon or maybe it was him who brought Patricia into politics, ditching her for a slimmer version shortly afterwards. At any rate, the vast Wade mansion is currently occupied by mere three people: the Missus, her German housekeeper and wondrous cook Guta and the sole heir to her fortune (or at least her political machine): Monica.

Monica Wade

Dear little Monica, as her Mom lovingly calls her, is in many ways a typical teenager. Sheltered and a little shy, she, too, would like to rebel against her overbearing mother that has planned ahead the entire Monica's life. But there are a couple obstacles that prevent her from doing so.

Firstly, it takes so much effort to stand up to her mother that Monica mostly prefers to take the easy way out, as long as she doesn't have to actually move for it. Secondly, rebelling against her mother would definitely anger her and the little plumper is used to a steady fast food diet paid by Mom's generous pocket money. But mainly, while not quite sure what her rebellion would entail, she is worried it might include giving up Guta's cooking, getting up from the well-worn groove in her couch in front of big screen TV and leaving behind all the other temptations of her home.

In short, Monica has fine-tuned Patricia's laziness to perfection. And thus her 'rebellion' is so far limited to thwarting Patricia's attempts to find her a strapping, ambitious lad. However, Monica does share her mother's other traits too, including her aptitude for politics and should she ever find sufficient motivation to rein in her laziness, she might become a formidable force herself.

Bill Griffith

When creating a potential partner for Dakota I wanted to avoid the 'closet FA' stereotype. So he is instead modelled after a friend of mine, a journalist too – he likes all kinds of women, as long as they have plenty up top, and is willing to forgive a couple (hundred) extra pounds elsewhere. As the story develops, Bill is getting a little concerned about her rapid weight gain, however he is easily placated with the promise of more intimacy.

I did give Bill another kink of mine, already described by Janet Grant in her diatribe – he loves ambition. As long as Dakota on the way up, she can count on his interest whether she weighs 100 pounds or 500. And since, as a political journalist, he's already seen plenty young politicians blow up from sitting at committees all day long and stuffing their faces, he takes Dakota's weight gain in stride.

Nevertheless, Bill is a lot more than just his libido. A talented, knowledgeable, highly intelligent journalist who is rather underappreciated in a local newspaper that's closer to a tabloid then he would like to (again, like my RL friend), he tries to uplift the quality of Bugle's writing, with occasional success. But he's an endless optimist and sees those little successes as signs of an underlying trend.

And last but not least, he has a broad circle of friends (and exes) that he turns to whenever he runs across something that sparks his professional interest. He knows he's abusing their friendship sometimes, a little, to get his story, so he is forgiving when they do the same to him, and remains fiercely loyal (especially to his exes).