Francine (Cinder Isle)

* Francine
* Frank

**Francine**, formerly **Frank**, is one of the main antagonists of the SapphireFoxx comic "Cinder Isle". He is the best friend and side kick of the Cinder Isle High School's resident bully, Bruce/Bridget. He constantly bullies the main protagonists Zack, Gavin, Shane, and later Nathan/Natalie (the quad). While Bridget is the main bully out of the two of them Frank plays his part alongside her. After Bridget got infected the two remained close friends and still kept up their bulling ways. Eventually their relationship turned romantic after Bridget being a woman for several months. After bullying Shane and Natalie at the school gym he and Bridget both become the victim of a curse from the Harlequin ghost. After mocking Shane for being fat despite the fact he slimed down and bulked up over the last few months Harlequin has some fun and helps him out by cursing the two bullies to gain a half pound of body fat every time they bully anyone. By the time the senior year begins they have both become very obese clearly showing they have refused to change their ways. After they became fed up with being ridiculed for being fat Bridget convinced Frank to take revenge on the town by purposely infecting the remaining island with the T1-G1 Virus with the hope being that Frank will gain status as the only man left on the island and Bridget can brag that she has him to herself now that they've become a real couple. The pair then infect the towns water supply during a big festival but are caught by officer Dyana which results in Frank getting exposed and transforming into Francine. The pair are then arrested for bio terrorism and sent to prison.

When Alistair Huntington is revived and performs the spells needed to reverse the virus and remove all memory of it both Francine and Bridgett were among the 20% who elected to stay transformed, likely due to them both learning to enjoy their new bodies and feeling they could now stay together in prison as woman. It is unknown what they and the other residence of the island now think they were arrested for since all knowledge of the virus was erased from everyone except the quad, but it is implied, they are still in prison after the Memory alter.

## Design/Appearance

As a man Frank is depicted as a talk and moderately fit Caucasian young man. He has dark brown hair and green eyes but no major defining characteristics. He often wears athletic looking clothing like jogging pants or a runner's jacket, but it's never specified if he plays any sports at the High School

As a woman Francine is only ever seen once and briefly before being sent to prison for her actions in infecting the island's water supply. She is depicted as still obese due to the effects of Harlequin's curse but has very rounded cheek and wide thighs. The virus transforms her clothing from a plain XL dark shirt into a rather formal looking navy-blue dress complete with a skirt and jewelry. Her hair grows to about shoulder length and her shoes become high heels.

## History

Franks general back story is never specified but he does mention having a father in prison suggesting a rather hard childhood which likely sparked his aggressive and hostile nature. At some point he became the best friend and bullying side kick to Bruce who came from a more prestigious background but shared a similar personality likely due to an inflated ego or being neglected by his father who was too busy to pay much attention to him.

Frank is first seen behind Bruce when he approaches Gavin, Shane, and Zack outside Cinder Isle High School before classes began that day. Bruce threatens and steals Gavin's Chemistry homework while Frank mainly watches, laughs and verbally bullies the others. However unknown to any of them at the time Zack had been exposed to and contracted the T1-G1 Virus and when he coughed into Bruce's face, he began the pandemic. Frank was not exposed at this time but remained close to Bruce throughout the next half hour or so. At that point Frank escorted Bruce the school Nurse after he began to cough, and his hair spontaneously grew longer and got blonde highlights. Once there Bruce's transformation continued but Frank managed to avoid exposure when Nurse Belfast insisted, he and Gavin put on medical masks and step back from the others. Frank left the Nurse's office and presumably headed back to class only to be evacuated with the rest of the students a short time later.

Frank and Bruce (Now Bridget) reunited a short time after she was released from quarantine, and he helped her spread the word that Zoey was patient Zero to the rest of the school making her an outcast and target of blame for the pandemic. Frank continued to follow Bridget's lead despite her now being a woman and joined her in confronting Zoey, Gavin, and Shane at the local bowling alley. Frank went along with Bridget's blame of Zoey for causing the pandemic. While he himself was not (yet) infected he hated the fact he was now stuck on the island for the rest of his life due to the quarantine. He seemed unfazed when Bridget threatened to get a cut and purposely infect Gavin and Shane should any of them try to take revenge of their own.

Months later Frank joins Bridget at the school gym where they find Shane and Natalie and continue their usual mocking and bullying. Shane however has gained more confidence since he has slimmed down over the past few months and is more defensive and stands up to both of them. As they get abusive however the Harlequin ghost appears only to Shane and on his consent gives both Bridget and Frank a curse that will cause them to gain half a pound of body fat every time, they bully someone. Frank begins to get aggressive with Shane soon after which causes the curse to activate. He briefly belches in Shane's face and his cheeks become noticeably puffier. When things get physical between them all Chase, arrives to help and gets into a fist fight with Frank. In an effort to help him Bridget takes out a pocketknife and threatens Chase to get off of him but before things escalate much more Natalie returns after going to get Nurse Belfast and the group are ordered the principal's office. Frank and Bridget argue they were defending themselves but after seeing Shane was the main victim and under the influence of another ghost known as the Mistress who witnessed the fight, Principal Harpswell suspends both Bridget and Frank for the last month of school expecting them to take a month of Summer School to make up their work.

After the summer Frank and Bridget return to school but due to the effects of the curse placed on them, they have become rather obese due to their bullying. Zoey, Sandra, and Natalie confront them in the halls laughing that they are now the objects of ridicule for their size. At this point as they all argue Bridget lets it slip that she and Frank are now dating by calling him "baby" which only gives the other girls more of an excuse to mock them now. Bridget gets mad but Frank restrains her from doing anything too bad as the principal told them both they are on thin ice this year. The couple then leave before things escalate further. Bridget complains about the unexplained weight gain, but Frank embraces her saying he still loves her and even enjoys her fat body in the bedroom to some degree. Despite his admiration Bridget wants revenge on the town for mocking them and forms the plan to infect everyone else on the island except for Frank so they both have status again. Frank likes the idea since he'd effectively have his own Herrum as the last man on the island, but Bridget makes it clear she would benefit by being able to say she had Frank all to herself. After the mayor announces a festival soon to be held on the island the duo think how it will be the best time to execute their plan and plot on how to do it.

At the Festival a few months later Frank and Bridget are walking through the crowd. Frank pushes a wheel barrel with a covered bio-hazard barrel on it that contains the red water that holds the virus. The duo gets to the pump house for one of the island's main waterlines and convinces officer Dianna that they are grounds keepers who misplaced their keys and need to get a barrel of purifier in the building. Once inside and alone Frank hooks the barrel up to the pump and Bridget pulls the valve. Their plan succeeds in infecting the rest of the island, but it backfires horribly as Dianna quickly figured out what they were up to and ran to confront them. Before they could flee however Dianna burst in and held the two at gunpoint and in the process, Frank dropped the barrel at his feet splashing himself with water and quickly transformed into Francine. Both she and Bridget were then arrested on charges of Bioterrorism.

Weeks later during the island's election, which the quad had arranged to contain a question about whether or not the voter would want to change back should a cure for the virus ever be found, Natalie and Sandra found Francine's and Bridget's ballots as Maine was one of the two states that still allowed inmates to vote. To their surprise both of them elected to stay female presumably because Francine had come to enjoy her new body with Bridget in prison and they both felt they could stay together that way. It is unknown what Francine and Bridget now remember about what they did to be arrested after Alistair rewrote the memories of the world to erase all knowledge of the virus, but they are both implied to still be in prison at the end of the comic, presumably for life.

## Traits/Personality

Frank is a very dim and clearly more of the submissive type as he has always been shown to be more of a follower with Bruce/Bridget the one in charge. While his exact back story is never specified, he does mention that he has a father who is incarcerated witch more than likely played a part in his bullying ways coming to light out of resentment and poor parenting. Frank is very aggressive and once Bruce becomes Bridget and loses all the muscles mass she once had as a man Frank then becomes the main muscle of the two of them. He is not above getting physical simply out of spite for someone and is rather strong based on the punches he delt both Chase and Shane. Frank is also shown to be a bit hypocritical as he has often mocked others like Gavin and Zack calling them "fags' and saying they are gay even when he and Bridget had officially become a romantic couple despite Bridget having been a man most of their lives. Despite all his strength Frank is very dimwitted as he not only relies on Bruce helping him steal homework from smart kids to get good grades but also is very slow even to think of good insults based on his confrontation with Zoey and Sandra after they learned he and Bridget had started dating.

## Relationships

##### Bridget

Frank has been the best friend and side kick to the resident school bully Bruce who because of his high standing father sees fit to bully the other kids. Frank often goes along with him but tends to be the less direct of the two of them. After Bruce is infected and becomes Bridget the two continue their bullying ways and even see fit to pay special attention to the Quad since Zoey was the one who infected Bridget to begin with.

After several months the two become an official couple and have developed quite the love life between them despite being cursed to get fatter each time they bully someone. Frank then goes along with Bridget's plan to infect the rest of the island other than him for revenge but when their plan works the two are caught and Frank is infected anyway. The two are then imprisoned together after being arrested for bioterrorism. After the events of the Virus were rewritten by Alistair the two of them were among the portion of the island's populace that elected to remain in their new bodies as they both felt they could stay together in prison as women presumably remaining an incarcerated lesbian couple.

##### The Quad

Frank always joined Bruce in bullying the Trio of Zach, Gavin, and Shane. Often helping him steal Gavin's grade A homework and putting Shane down for his glasses and mild obesity. Zach would often defend the others but both Frank and Bruce were more aggressive. Later the trio became the Quad when Nathan/Natalie joined from off the island and Frank continued to bully them all along with Bridget.

After an encounter with Shane and Natalie at the school gym both Frank and Bridget were unknowingly given a curse by the Harlequin Ghost that made it so they would gain a half pound of body fat each time they bullied someone. Frank had been getting aggressive with Shane and was quick to gain weight and belch as the curse took effect, but he seemed not to notice right away.

Months later after he and Bridget both gained weight the Quad has become much more popular as not only had Gavin become taller and muscular, but Natalie and Shane (now Sandra) were praised as heroes for preventing a barrel of infected water from reaching the mainland. To get revenge on them and everyone else for making fun of them for now being fat the two of them attempted to infect the rest of the island apart from Frank. Their plan backfires, however, as not only was Frank infected and both of them arrested, but it was revealed that Gavin was immune to the virus and was now the only man left on the island in place of Frank as they intended.

When the quad had the election ballet that year include the question about changing back if a cure was discovered Francine and Bridget were permitted to vote as Maine was one of the few states that permitted inmates to vote. Natalie found and reviewed their ballets and discovered both of them wanted to stay as women much to the surprise of the others.

##### Unnamed Parents

Unlike Bruce/Bridget who has a high standing father Frank's parents are implied to be low life's, likely fueling his aggressive attitude. While his mother is never mentioned or seen it can be assumed he lives with her as he does briefly mention that his father is an inmate at the island penitentiary.

## Abilities/Powers

Frank has not special abilities by himself. He is the victim of a curse given to him by the ghost known as the Harlequin. The Harlequin had befriended Shane who was being bullied by Frank and Bridget and as one of her playful pranks she enchanted the two of them to gain a half pound of body fat every time they harassed or bullied someone. This caused Frank to become very obese over a short period of time even after transforming into Francine.

After Alistair fixed the issues caused by the virus and erased all memory of it, presumably he also removed the curse from Francie and Bridget to tie up loose ends. But it is never confirmed or specified if he removed the curse and restored their proper body weights or simply removed it so it would not progress further.

## Trivia

* Unlike most other infected, when Frank was transformed by the T1-G1 virus her body was not a supermodel like form. Instead, she remained somewhat obese. Likely due to the curse placed on her by the Harlequin being carried over after she was transformed.