Vixen "Cupcake" Tyler

> "*Cupcake hates herself, more than she hates anyone in her life, even her shitty mom and fuck-face Macintyre.*"
> ― Nicole "Nikki" Sutton
>
>

## Characteristics

### Family

Louise (Mother)Cassadee (Older Half-Sister)

Kaleigh (Younger Half-Sister)

Austin (Younger Half-Brother)

Lesley (Youngest Half-Sister)

## Portrayal

### Actor

Leda C. Muir

**Vixen Tyler**, better known as "Cupcake," is the main protagonist and narrator in *It's a Cruel World, Sir*. The majority of the story is told from her point of view (aside from the Bonus Chapters, which are in third person). She's the youngest member of the Pacific Gang, and, therefore, one of the most targeted, but she's also one of the best female fighters (directly behind Nikki). Because of her personality type (INFJ or 'the Protector'), she catches the eye of her new Psychology professor, Chase Kingsley.

Her lip mark is usually pink or purple.

## Appearance

Vixen is taller than average height (5'7") with pastel pink hair that she bleaches and dyes regularly (her natural hair is brown, like her mother Louise). She keeps her hair messy—brushing it once before calling it done—with her bangs over one of her brown eyes almost all of the time. She has a lip ring on the side of her bottom lip that she usually keeps a stud in.

She's often depicted as wearing tight jeans and baggy long-sleeves, as well as thick eyeliner "like a raccoon" with chapstick that tints her lips a lighter pink.

## Personality

To other people in Silverstein, Vixen is seen as a delinquent who can't control her temper, loves fighting, and enjoys picking on others. This, however, is completely wrong.

Despite what they think, Vixen is actually a quiet, unsure teen. She doesn't like to stand out, and she goes out of her way to hide, preferring to sit in the back of the classroom or in the corner of the club away from everyone else. She's more outgoing when she's around her friends, especially Nikki, but she gets quiet as soon as anyone she doesn't know or trust joins them.

Vixen has also shown to be extremely selfless—to the point that it's actually harmful to herself. She often puts herself in danger to keep her friends from getting hurt, like when she lied to Nikki about how many guys were ganging up on them in Glitter and Blood and when she physically stood between Chase and a cigarette in Missing. In fact, Nikki has stated that Vixen is fine as long as she's the only victim: "She just doesn't want whatever happens to her to happen to anyone else." Because of this, Vixen *does* have a temper—if someone is messing with her friends or her little brother and sisters, she lashes out, usually violently.

She goes through a drastic change as the story progresses, though, learning to value herself more and hate herself a little less.

## Personality Type

Vixen is the INFJ personality type, also known as the "Protector" or the "Advocate." They are very rare, making up less than 1% of the population (some sites say 1-3%, some say less than 1%, but it's stated in *It's a Cruel World, Sir* that Chase has only met a handful of them in his existence). Proctors are extremely intuitive about people and overly concerned for others' feelings. They see helping others as their purpose in life.

The thing that makes them so rare is their conflicting traits: though soft-spoken, they have very strong opinions and will fight endlessly for something they believe in. Their sensitivity also forces them to avoid being personallity attacked, but their fighting spirits make it unavoidable, which causes them to fight back in highly irrational, self-destructive ways that aren't always helpful.

## History

After her father passed away, eight-year-old Vixen was forced to move in with her mother, Louise, who only agreed to it for the insurance money. For years, Louise abused Vixen. Despite her ability to, Vixen never fought back. At least, not until Louise tried to hit the twins (Kayleigh and Austin).

   Vixen ended up breaking Louise's arm when she stopped her, and, since then. Louise's beatings died down, though she never stopped verbally abusing her.

In Vixen's freshmen year of high school, it's mentioned that she went to a prestigious school outside of Silverstein called Lampton, where she was expelled after breaking a senior's cheek who had also threatened Kaleigh and Austin. This got her expelled and sent to Cheshire High—a school known for it's high population of rebellious students.

Nine months before the start of *It's a Cruel World, Sir*, the Cheshire Gang tried to get help for Vixen when they notice that she had cuts on her arms, going to Mr. Macintyre. Just as they were starting to trust him, it was found out that Macintyre was just using his nice teacher act as a ruse to molest her.

## Family

### Louise Grey

Louise is Vixen's biological mother, who had nothing to do with her until Vixen turned eight. Even then, the only reason she took Vixen in was because she wanted her ex's insurance money. She's a pretentious individual who only cares about getting money and spending it, often on the "hunt" for her next victim—er, husband. She spends most of her time away from the house, leaving Vixen alone at home for months on end and only coming home when she needs more money or something is going on at Vixen's school that requires her presence. Due to their personality differences, Vixen and Louise don't get along (Vixen refers to her as "Mother," while Nikki calls her "the Creator"). Louise used to beat Vixen when she was younger until Vixen broke her arm when she was 11, so they both share a mutual hate for each other: Louise believing Vixen is too much like her father, and Vixen believing Louise lacks any real human emotions at all, jokingly calling her a "witch" when playing with her little half-siblings. It's been stated that the only reason Louise gives money to Vixen is because she wants Vixen to "pretend like she doesn't exist."

### Cassadee Grey

Cassadee is Vixen's 26-year-old half-sister. Like Louise, Cassadee loves money over everything. She gets a weekly allowance that's far more than what Louise gives Vixen because she's the favorite, but Cassadee still asks Vixen for money. She and Vixen have an awful relationship. Cassadee insinuates Vixen's a prostitute, calling Vixen's friends, Leon and Calvin, her "clients," on top of constantly calling her a whore or slut. Despite all of this, however, Vixen still saves Cassadee when Ronnie threatens her with a knife.

## Relationships

### Chase Kingsley

At first, Chase is just the new psychology professor to Vixen. She admits that he's attractive, but that's as far as it goes until he insults Nikki and TJ, which results in Vixen trying to hit him. Eventually, after Nikki and TJ forgive him, she accepts his apology. From there, their relationship begins a slow burn. Chase helps her out a few times, and she gradually grows to not only trust him but care for him as well. This causes a lot of internal conflict for Vixen, though, as she hasn't ever really had romantic feelings for someone before.

### Nicole "Nikki" Sutton

Nikki's the one who understands Vixen the most. Despite the two being nearly polar opposites, Nikki is the first one to figure out that Vixen hates herself to point of being unconcerned when she's in danger, and Nikki's even the first one to notice how Vixen feels about Chase. She's the one Vixen goes to with all of her problems as well, especially those including Chase. She even has an entire drawer at Vixen's house filled with her clothes.

### Taylor "TJ" Justice

TJ is another member that's particularly close to Vixen despite how different the two are. TJ trusts Vixen enough to tell her his newly-found crush on Trent, and Vixen respects him enough not to say anything to anyone else until TJ is ready. Vixen is also ready to take down Noah any time he or anyone else makes a comment towards TJ.

### Whitney "Whit" Hall

Whit and Vixen are close, though there's a bit of a disconnect between the two due to how similar they are: Vixen thinks that the reason Whit hates Macintyre so much is because of what he did to her, but Whit actually hates Macintyre because of what he did to Vixen. Because of this, Vixen often misunderstands Whit's attacks on Chase, causing the two of them to argue with each other often throughout the chapters. The two would still do almost anything for each other, though.

### Leon Reid

Vixen, along with the rest of the gang, often refer to Leon as the "father" of the group, calling him "dad" whenever he's frantic about someone. That being said, Vixen still respects Leon's opinion and decisions, listening to what he says (despite her finding loopholes in his orders) more often than not, like when he tells her to ignore Noah and sit down instead of going after him after his attack on TJ.

### Trent Elliot

It's safe to say that, out of everyone in the gang, Vixen is the least close with Trent, which isn't saying much because she mentions that he's the person she goes to when she wants "company without conversation" due to her and Trent's ability to understand each other without many words.

### Calvin Stone

Despite how much he messes around, casually flirting and putting on a big show of wanting to sleep with her, Vixen considers Calvin the older brother she never had. Like the others, she would do anything to make sure Calvin isn't hurt, as shown when she spends an entire afternoon searching for him in fear that he's been kidnapped by Preston.