Melvin Figglebottom's Questionnaire

Melvin lives in Toad Suck Arkansas which is a small town where is job relocated him to. He depends on his job to live off of, so it would be pretty hard to move elsewhere. His home is a single bedroom house that he rents. It's kind of rundown as he finds it hard to muster the energy to upkeep it much. He lives alone and has a bit of a beater in the driveway that he's tried to keep repaired with what he can figure out through youtube videos. The inside is cluttered but not overly messy. But the fridge is usually pretty empty since he only has to buy food for himself.

Melvin works for a private institution that works with defaulted loans. He's been at the job for almost a decade now with not really much chance at climbing the ladder. He's been passed over at least a dozen times even though he knows the job inside and out. So he's given up and has resigned himself to just doing his job until he retires. He makes a modest amount with the amount of yearly raises he's gotten over the years. He spends his money on his parents mostly. They are getting up there in age and need more care which he can't provide except to hire full time nurses at their house. They weren't exactly the best parents, but his other siblings pretty much abandoned them and left their well being in his hands.

The moment Melvin found out that he actually had a shot to break out of this mundane life that's been inundated with bad turn after bad turn, he decided he was willing to risk it all rather than continue on like this. He's not sure if he has rotten luck or if the gods just cursed him to wither into obscurity under the weight of all these things keeping him shackled to this boring as hell life. But he craves a means to improve himself. To really spread his wings and become more than what life has made him. The alternative is death and he actually wouldn't mind that since it would also means he no longer has to live in this sorry state.

Honestly, his life has just been one disappointment after another. He's barely managed to eek out a life for himself at all. If you asked Melvin this question personally he probably would have a very hard time answering it. He might even default to just saying that it was being born. It's not that he hasn't tried to change his circumstance. It's that whenever he tried to change things, nothing would happen. Nothing would change, nothing would get better. It's taken a toll on his mental state to a fairly severe degree. His will and determination to try anymore has basically been ruined.

Jimmy Bradford: His coworker and probably only friend. He works in the cubicle next to Melvin and the two have some minor banter during work when they aren't too busy or when they meet up in the break room. On occasion, the two would go out to the local bar and have a few drink.

Melissa Figglebottom: His mother who lives with his father out in Scranton, Pennsylvania. His mother cared for him as a child and tried to be there whenever something went wrong in his life. But with two brothers and a sister that were older, it was hard for her to pay much attention to him.

Alice: A stray cat that wandered into his house one day a few months ago. Melvin did his due diligence and try to see if one went missing around the area, but no one had any reported. So he adopted it even though his landlord had said no pets (he never comes around anyways). Alice has been the reason he doesn't spiral into a deep depression. Who would take care of her?

Melvin's childhood was a little sullen. He had the occasional friend, but none that would become long time friends. All of them seemed to either move on to other friend groups or move away. His parents were generally loving. His mom especially who tried to encourage his desire to try new things. Though his older siblings always seemed to leave him out of. He attended normal public school and did pretty well for himself in grades. He never really fit in with other groups and was just kind of a loner most of the time. But he always meant well. He got into a decent college and did well enough to get a bachelor's degree in information systems. His parents supported him more or less but his siblings were never really close to him and kind of all drifted away from home, leaving him to be the sole son left to take care of his parents in their old age.

Melvin has been in love a few times. But none of them ever panned out. He's been kind of a hopeless romantic. He knows he doesn't really look the best. But he's sure that one day he will find someone who will accept him for him. But he's still trying to improve how he looks and make himself more attractive for women. He knows that he's no catch and doesn't really have much body positivity about himself. The few times he has tried to go dating didn't really go anywhere. It was mostly just women being nice and waiting until the night ended.

Melvin's worst fear is to die before he has really accomplished anything with his life or make a name for himself. He has tried so hard to to break the mold and now he finally has that chance. He won't squander it no matter what. But, he has lived his life with the creeping fear that he would never amount to anything. To die in obscurity as a nobody. It bothers him probably more often than it should. His other fear is that he doesn't live up to his own expectations. That everything he does seems to fall short. He is very self conscious about what he does and how he does it. He really hates how sometimes people refer to him as dull or boring or uninteresting. It gets to him and he can't really concentrate. He doesn't really have too many fears. It's mainly just the fears about himself and not knowing why everything he has ever tried has ended in either mediocre success or abject failure. He hates his mediocrity. It keeps him up at night, preventing his sleep. It slips into the back of his mind whenever he attempts anything. It plagues him constantly and without end.

Melvin's most prized possession is most likely his cat. He found her one day on his way home from work as a stray and decided to keep her after waiting for an owner to reach out and also checking lost pet pages around town. He got her cleaned up and taken in for all their shots so he could properly take care of her.  He named her Alice and she is a grey kitty who loves to snuggle up to Melvin while he is plugged in to Neo-Genis. She is fairly self sufficient and moderates her own food intake. She sleeps a lot and usually sneaks out of the house to go to the bathroom. Although, she does have a litter box she sometimes uses instead. Especially on colder days. Melvin loves her and is really happy he found her and took her in. She actually makes him a little happy.

Melvin's biggest problem is that he just got handed The Wrangler's Legacy after accompanying him for a mission and his life is taking a drastic turn from office worker to pseudo spy to infiltrate the Hunag-Xi Guild. Melvin has resolved himself to working with the Wrangler in the event that he doesn't die from the upcoming conflict or inheriting his legacy and avenging him. He is not built for this at all and is very worried about how this will go for him. He wants to make good on his promises and pay The Wrangler back for all the all of the valuable information he's gotten. He is also a little upset that the Wrangler wouldn't let him assist with his problem. He wants Melvin alive in case the worst happens. He understands, but it still makes his fist clench. He needs to get better. He needs to improve himself more than he has ever tried to and failed at.

Melvin wakes up bright and early at 6am. He groggily gets up and takes a morning shower to wake himself up. He brushes his teeth and combs his receding hairline before dressing himself for work. standard office attire, nothing special. He  makes himself some breakfast. Either some bacon and eggs with toast or just some cereal. Opting to turn on the morning news while he eats. After about a half hour, he finishes up breakfast and prepares to head out to work, grabbing his car keys and making sure Alice is fed for the morning before giving her a few pets and leaving in his slightly beat up car. Several minutes later he arrives at work and set about on his morning work routine. Checking his emails, making some coffee in the break room, checking in with his friend Jimmy before he finally sits back down at his desk to begin work for the day.

If Melvin needed to spruce himself up, he would go down to suit store and have himself fitted for a suit. He's not extremely large, but he is overweight enough to where he wouldn't want to just pick out anything. It would need to work for his style. Perhaps a brown dress coat with a beige dress shirt and an orange tie. He would wear nice smelling cologne and make sure to get himself properly preened with what hair he has left. It would probably take him an hour or so to get ready enough to make his way out the door. He's no bashful but he's not overly charismatic either. So he wouldn't have a very hard time psyching himself up for a special event. He wouldn't be nervous. He's just not a very eye catching person. So he knows that he wouldn't have to talk to too many people if he didn't want to.

For past birthdays Melvin as sort of lamented on the passing of the year as another attempt gone by to try and better himself. But this year he doesn't even know if he will celebrate it at all. He's completely focused now. Instead of trying and failing to get better, he's doing it and he isn't about to let up anytime soon. Every step he's taken since he got to Neo-Genis has been a positive for him. He's even gotten a little less chubby irl from the workouts he's done at the guild hall. So he will probably spend it the same way hes been spending all his days outside of working at his irl job. Making the most out of life.