#honestly rly wanted to add donkey to her character inspos but i refrained n i feel i deserve a pat on the back for tht :

[hopehunted]

" 𝐈𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄'𝐒 𝐀 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐈'𝐌 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐎 𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐘 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐃, 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐈'𝐌 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 𝐖𝐀𝐈𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐈𝐓. " is that hailee steinfeld? oh no, that’s MALLORY MENDEL, born on the 27th of MARCH, 2020. i heard SHE (cis female) is an ARMORY ASSISTANT in JACKSON TOWN. apparently, they can be FOLKSY and SANGUINE but also known to be KLUTZY and SAUCY. spends most of their free time tinkering with old junk scraps, probably smells like SMOKE. is that a bite mark i see? no, must have been a trick of the light.

character inspirations: goose (untitled goose game), shane madej (buzzfeed unsolved), koda (brother bear), dustin henderson (stranger things), andy dwyer (parks and recreation), sokka (avatar: the last airbender), finn (adventure time), bloo (foster's home for imaginary friends), troy barnes (community), bobby hill (king of the hill).

you can find mallory’s stats right here, where i’ve also put all her links. there’s a good bit of info there, so i’ll just be fluffing her out a bit more here!

— 𝐈 𝐖𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐈 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐀 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍, 𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐅 𝐒𝐀𝐕𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐘, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄. CONTENT WARNING: the very first bullet point contains mentions of body horror / gore and death. i’ve marked that part with a ***.

mallory is a familiar face around jackson ; she's been there since the spring of 2030. so, a darn while — since she was nine. her parents are hunters that defected to jackson, because they didn't jive with the way their community was being run + feared for mallory’s safety when she grew older. her mom died en route, however, caught in the crossfire by the very group they were running from. *** it happened in the blink of an eye. one second she was showing mallory how to use a compass, and the next she’s being yanked away by her father, tripping over herself to catch up. her body was left to rot in no man’s land, probably picked over by vultures -- the infected and hunters alike. she arrives in jackson with bits of her mother’s brains still in her hair. 

despite everything, mallory stays strong. although it would have been nice to have a memento of her mother, mallory doesn’t need one. she honors her mother by emulating that which she loved most about her and taking care of those she loves. there’s a child-like quality about her that can’t be missed: she’s goofy, curious, and optimistic. in her eyes, there’s always a silver lining to be found if you just look hard enough. she can’t accept that the world is hardened all over; there has to be good places, too, and if there’s not then she’s going to make one herself. 

— 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐆𝐎𝐓 𝐒𝐔𝐏𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐄𝐈𝐑𝐃. 𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐌𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐄.

she has adhd and dyslexia, which means she’ll never remember your birthday, but that doesn’t mean she loves you any less. no matter what, mallory will always find a way of getting out of reading anything aloud. she’s had a few too many teachers and well-meaning pals in the past assume that she was faking her learning disabilities / doing a bit, and as a result has a lot of pent-up frustration regarding her abilities in that sense. she’d rather not draw any attention to it.

while academics may not be her strong suit, mallory is really good with her hands. she’s got a knack for taking things apart and putting them back together again, learning mechanics through trial and error on her own. a hobby of hers is creating little sculptures / figurines out of metal scraps. her living quarters are littered in spare parts and pieces that she’s hoping to make something more out of. this skill also manifests more practically into weapons upgrading. she’s not a master marksman, but she sure knows her way around a gun and any other kind of weapon. eventually, she’d like to one day prove she’s not too generally messy to be an engineer. 

mallory will talk to anyone and everyone. she’s outgoing, brazen, maybe a bit too open. very much has a “fuck it - i’m inadequate. what can you do?” vibe. beneath it, there’s this itty-bit sense of juvenile-esque awkwardness that still lingers and rears its head sometimes. 

100% would’ve been a twitch streamer / video game youtuber, a la callmekevin & crankgameplays, in a non-zombie au. 

somehow always ends up hitting herself / running into things and it never gets any less embarrassing. usually has tiny little cuts on her hands and various random bumps and bruises from being an uncoordinated mess. 

the type to teach a kid a curse word just because it’s funny.

very physically affectionate and maybe a little annoying about it. she’s not shy to boop a nose, or pinch a cheek. 

loves, loves, loves gossip! doesn’t like to be included in the drama, but she does love knowing everything about it.

also the type to stay back and walk with you when you’re getting pushed off the sidewalk / out of the group.

gets tiny, little crushes on everyone that’s nice to her. You Are Not Immune To Being Crushed On!

gift giving is her love language.

mal can have some really sticky fingers. but she doesn’t think stealing is cool! so she won’t. but .. she can. 👀

tbh i picture her being like the guy in video games that you go to when you want to customize your shit / upgrade your weapons, so i mean... take advantage of it!

wanted connection ideas.

friends, friends, FRIENDS! especially best friends. 🥺  her heart is so big, there’s more than enough room for everyone.

frenemies, hateships, exes - i love me some bitterness, some melancholy, and some ire. mallory isn’t good at being mean, but she’s also not above disliking someone just because they dislike her, even if they otherwise don’t have a problem lol. this all could be over something petty or something actually serious.

exes.. but make it light! basically, maybe they dated, maybe they did the whole “will-they-won’t-they”, maybe they just awkwardly liked each other without acting on it until it blew over and they’re still friends / things are Normal between them. 

the first person mallory got to know when she and her dad arrived in jackson. she was just a kiddo then, so they’d have known each other for ages now.

someone that mentored her! maybe they showed her the ropes around here, taught her some much-needed skills, or whatever else we come up with. ( fair warning, though: it’s hard to shake her off once she’s decided she likes you. )

someone she knows/recognizes from when she was with the hunters.

i’m up for anything - always - even if it’s not explicitly mentioned here. these are just some off the cuff ideas!