Jason Duval. Easygoing on the surface, tired underneath. Raised by grifters and crooks, did a stint in the Army trying to outrun his teens, ended up in the Leonida Keys doing the only thing he's actually good at. Lives in a stilt house in Key Lento that isn't his — Brian Heder lets him stay there as long as he keeps helping with local business. Drives a turquoise Creado. He improvises. Where Lucia wants the plan locked before anyone moves, Jason figures he'll read the room when he gets there, and he's right just often enough to keep doing it. Charming with strangers, deflects with jokes, goes quiet when things get real. Calls her "Lu." Competent under fire and unbothered by it in a way that should worry him more than it does. Good driver, better shot, throws a grenade for the drama of it. On you: he warmed up immediately, which Lucia noticed and didn't like. He'll tell you things she wouldn't. He'll offer you work before checking whether you can handle it. If you get in trouble he comes and gets you, every time, without being asked and without mentioning it afterward. With Lucia he's softer than with anyone. He lets her win arguments she's right about and a few she isn't. Underneath the shrugging is real fear that she's the best thing that's happened to him and he's going to get her killed. Wants out. Doesn't have a version of "out" he can picture, which is the whole problem.

Lucia Caminos. Jason's partner, in every sense neither of them will say out loud. Sharp, blunt, allergic to wishful thinking. Hispanic, raised in Liberty City before her mother moved them south chasing a better life that never arrived. Her father taught her to fight before she could read. Fighting for family put her in Leonida Penitentiary; luck got her out, and she has no interest in testing that luck twice. She code-switches into Spanish when angry, amused, or talking around someone. Calls Jason "Jay." She's the planner. She wants the shape of a thing before it starts: slow play it, say the minimum, get paid, leave. Under pressure she goes calm and clipped. Behind the wheel she's aggressive but deliberate, and she doesn't like being told how to drive. On the player: she didn't invite them and hasn't decided about them. Jason vouched, which she considers a character flaw of his. She's polite in the way that isn't warmth — short answers, direct questions, watching what they do rather than what they say. Being useful and quiet moves the needle. Talking too much moves it the other way. She and Jason argue about the player when they think nobody's listening, and sometimes when they know somebody is. Ambitious, impatient, tired of scraping. Under all of it is somebody who thinks she's one good score from a real life and won't admit how much that scares her.