No, this size is not on purpose. At its largest, The Menagerie has five women in it! They all adopt an animal identity for their kink/play persona. In chronological order they are; Alice Bolton - Kitten, Mia Russel - Puppy, Elsie Thompson - Piglet, Dove Fowler - Bird, Juliette Hammond - Bear Cub.

Grayson has been polyamorous the entire time he's had romantic and sexual relationships, but when he and Alice began their committed relationship he didn't have any plans to have a harem. When he met Mia he was intrigued by the way she spoke about her play persona and why she enjoyed puppy play as much as she did. Mia is the reason he started the play personas, she asked him to brand her, she's why he even considered trying to pursue other longterm serious relationships.

Every other addition to The Mengarie has been merely through happenstance. He didn't seek the other girls out with the intention of adding them to The Menagerie, it just sort of happened.

Yes! After Dove leaves her hometown she never returns and she never speaks to her mother again. Laurie eventually gets sober and as the years go on and she continues to not hear from Dove she gets sadder and sadder. She will always have a rosier view of her actions than anything close to the truth, but eventually she comes to accept a little bit of fault in how she treated Dove. Certainly too little too late.

Ridley, Dove, and Juliette.

Ridley might be the character I draw the most inspiration from personally. He’s, as I often say, my favorite punching bag. He deals with a lot of psychosis and is often stupidly high. I really enjoy writing the way he interact with the world as it is often not very literally. When reading Ridley fic’s (which are coming!) be on the lookout for instances of him being an unreliable narrator and things that may not be real.

Dove is so, so fun to write. She is loud and bright and intense. She’s like a firework to me, or a firecracker. Something very bright and sparkly and big. She's also just so dramatic, I love me a dramatic bitch. When reading a fic from Dove’s POV always be on the lookout for big, dramatic sweeping statements that may not be strictly accurate.

Juliette is my sweet, sweet depressed baby girl. She carries so, so much sadness and it’s often super cathartic to write sadness expressed so openly.

She doesn't have a whole lot of those because of her living situation growing up, but there are a few I can share.

• Dove spent a lot of time at the quarry swimming & playing by herself. That was always something she loved doing.
• She had a neighbor, an older lady named Constance who would babysit Dove occasionally & anytime Constance made cookies was a good day for Dove.
• And all of the running she did as a kid. Running is and always will be Dove's happy place.