Relend DeLaural

Relend is a minor recurring character in the The Conditional Continuation, and frequent thorn in Scarlet Jusenkyou's side.

Personality and Temperament

Relend is not inherently bad or even particularly mean-spirited, but stupid, and clumsy at social interaction. Because his friends growing up have all been boys, he doesn't know how to interact appropriately with other people his age. With Scarlet in particular, he plays pranks on her and antagonizes her, because that's how he treats his friends. Much of Relend's awkwardness stems from poor socialization and bad parenting. His friends are all similarly un-or-barely supervised boys who continually try to up the anty on the stupid stuff they do.

Like Scarlet, Relend is academically lazy, with the added bonus of a few undiagnosed learning disabilities. He did not so much fail school as school failed him, which should provide a good overview of just how bad the schools are in Sun's Beacon if moving to New Arindell was an improvement.

Backstory

Relend was born in Sun's Beacon in N.D. 500, on the 22nd day of the 5th month. He was a latchkey kid, with both parents working full-time throughout his childhood. He spent time first in after-school programs and later hanging out with friends. He never played any sports, but is an avid skateboarder.

Though the family lived in the inner city, they were fond of camping. The family owned a large camping trailer and truck to pull it, so most weekends they would be out in the countryside or in the Biswon delta. Fishing, swimming, and later playing on a set of wave runners. Relend seldom saw his parents much during the week, but was frequently out with them on the weekends.

His family life was actually quite good. Though they were often busy with work or hobbies of their own, his parents loved him and he had a strong relationship with his father.

When Relend is first introduced in Heart of the Journey, he's a nuisance to Scarlet. In the second book, we find out he's recently failed the 8th grade. In N.D. 514, his family moves from Sun's Beacon to Arindell to help him start fresh and take advantage of the capitol's better school system.