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.