Exit Party Characters

A former prisoner released after nearly two decades into a collapsed Los Angeles; she lives with Gloria, attends Kareem's party, later works surveillance, travels with Felix, and reinvents herself under names including Ari Smith, Ari Soriano, and Ari Waker. She is grief-stricken after Eddie's death and values the painting Swan Dive as a link to an unimaginably distant life. She has a TRUE DILIGENCE tattoo and served eighteen years for taking out a contract on her cousin Anton.

Arc: She moves from prison reintegration and survival through jobs, relationships, and cross-country flight; after Felix's death she marries Bill Soriano and later Eddie. Her past crimes—running passports, trafficking, and paying to kill Anton—return as guilt, and in one ending she dies in Nico's guest bedroom while in another she steps onto a diving board and dives into the blue.

• Gloria — former roommate in Echo Park
• Kareem Fayed — party host and acquaintance
• James — party acquaintance and sexual partner; later questions him about Kareem
• Saraya — stranger who calls her 'Ibari'
• Felix — motel neighbor, traveling partner, and first husband
• Nico Li — surveillance target who resembles Gloria and calls her 'Ibari'
• Anton — cousin she paid someone to kill
• Eddie Kalisa — her late wife
• Bill Soriano — her second husband
• Pilar — housekeeper and assistant
• Sebastian — Gloria's son who steals Swan Dive from her
• Ibari Waker — other-world counterpart/resemblance; called 'Ibari' by Saraya and Nico

A lifelong Service agent who dreamed of being a spy and wrote 'True Diligence' in notebooks; she is Nico's closest friend and a senior detective in a Special Investigations unit. She is assigned to investigate the two Kareem Fayeds and the teleportation disappearance, and later opens surveillance files on Nico's children. She blackmails David Grissom, extracts Kareem Fayed from Camp Five, and ultimately leaks Service secrets and is arrested.

Arc: She moves from loyal Service agent to disillusioned retiree who regrets devoting her life to the wrong thing; she gives Fayed a phone of secrets and walks out to be arrested. In the past, she risks her position to keep a promise to Nico.

• Nico Li — closest friend and fellow Service agent
• Kareem Fayed — interrogates him and later becomes his friend
• Marlowe Li — surveils her and later helps care for her
• Samir Li — surveils him and later helps care for him
• Alberto — her superior at Service
• David Grissom — colleague she blackmails
• Anton — her cousin
• Haruki — her boss at Service
• Aman — arresting officer
• the other Kareem Fayed — interviews him in Studio Three

A physicist who vanished with Saraya in a botched teleportation experiment, and who also appears as Gloria's double with no scar. In the other world she is a retail manager and Eduardo's cousin's wife; she calls Ari 'Ibari,' knows something about the doubling, and later records Ari's past in a hospital. She is the mother of Marlowe and Samir and the wife of Kareem Fayed.

Arc: She arrives at Kareem's party from another place, believes she is in a final dream, finds Saraya incoherent in a psych ward, and later cares for Gloria's son in Paris. She wants to return to her children, is declared legally dead, and leaves Ari Swan Dive.

• Kareem Fayed — her husband
• Marlowe Li — her daughter
• Samir Li — her child
• Saraya — colleague who disappeared with her
• Ari — calls her 'Ibari' and records her past
• Gloria — her double
• Sebastian — she raised him and he sometimes stays with her
• Ibari Waker — closest friend

A central figure who appears as two doubles: the host of the 2031 Los Angeles party from which he disappears, and Nico's husband, a scientist involved in the teleportation experiment and father of Marlowe and Samir. He is interrogated by Ibari, later raises the children, and dies with Marlowe by his side. His double is held in Camp Five and assumes the name David Grissom.

Arc: He moves from hosting a party and fleeing doubling to being a father and caretaker for Marlowe and Samir. He is devastated by Nico's disappearance, wanted to follow her, and eventually dies quietly with his daughter present.

• Nico Li — his wife
• Marlowe Li — his daughter
• Samir Li — his son
• Gloria — friend and former coworker
• Ari — party acquaintance and Gloria's roommate
• James — friend and college roommate
• Bruno — friend
• Saraya — friend and colleague
• Ibari Waker — interrogator and later friend
• the other Kareem Fayed — his double

The Kareem from the party world who hosts the 2031 Los Angeles party, sees doubles of Saraya and Gloria, flees to Santa Monica, and then steps through his kitchen doorway into a room with teleportation equipment, meeting his own double. A year later he agrees to trade places and care for Marlowe and Samir, becoming their father.

Arc: He searches for doubles, meets his double, and then builds a life caring for Marlowe and Samir; he steps back as Marlowe marries Hugo and attends her virtual lectures in his last years.

• Gloria — friend and former coworker
• Ari — acquaintance and Gloria's roommate
• Saraya — friend from work
• James — friend
• Bruno — friend
• Ibari Waker — interrogator and helper in child-care arrangement
• Marlowe Li — child he agrees to care for
• Samir Li — child he agrees to care for
• Kareem Fayed — his double

Gloria's son and Kareem's son, raised largely by Nico in Paris. He becomes fixated on Ari Soriano and the painting Swan Dive, believing it belonged to his father. He befriends Eddie Kalisa as a path to Ari, steals Swan Dive, and later gives it to Nico.

Arc: He moves from a boarding-school boy planning a theft to an art thief and accidental witness to Ari's death; he calls Obie to dispose of the body, creating a debt.

• Gloria — his mother
• Kareem Fayed — his father
• Nico Li — raised him and is his guardian
• Ari — target of his theft
• Eddie Kalisa — befriends her at the opera
• Cole — friend
• Obie — friend who disposes of Ari's body
• Aurélie — friend from whom he steals money
• Marie-Eve — dating partner

The daughter of Nico Li and Kareem Fayed, raised by Kareem after her mother's disappearance. She is chronically lonely, marries Hugo, and later lectures on transport. She witnesses a healthy version of her father flee and the frail version die.

Arc: She leaves Hugo after he gaslights her, travels to her dying father, and later seeks the ghost Kareem Fayed. She watches a recording of her father's story and denies seeing anything unusual to State agents.

• Hugo — her abusive husband and ex-husband
• Samir Li — her brother
• Kareem Fayed — her father
• Nico Li — her mother
• Ibari Waker — family friend who has known her since childhood
• Kareem Fayed — seeks the ghost Kareem Fayed
• Violet — her only retained friend from before her marriage

Marlowe's husband, who criticizes and gaslights her, claims she humiliated him, and says there is something very wrong with her. After the divorce he proclaims himself blindsided and sympathetic friends flock to him.

Arc: He remains the abusive partner Marlowe leaves; the text says he shaped her from age twenty-one and made her doubt herself.

• Marlowe Li — her husband and later ex-husband

Ari's former roommate in Echo Park, a survivor of a bombing who avoids loud noises, and the mother of Sebastian. She was pregnant by Kareem after a one-time thing and sold Swan Dive to Ari in Vincennes. She has a double named Nico who lacks her scar.

Arc: She moves from hiding in her apartment to leaving Los Angeles, then to Paris, where she works constantly and neglects her son. She argues with Sebastian about Ari and the painting and asks Ari to leave when accused of lying.

• Ari — former roommate
• Kareem Fayed — friend and father of her child
• Sebastian — her son
• Nico Li — her double
• James — questioned by him about Kareem
• Bruno — questioned by him about Kareem

Marlowe's brother, son of Nico and Kareem, who works on the moon and is married to Mo. He races home when their father is dying, chases an intruder who claims to be Kareem Fayed, and later agrees with Marlowe to exchange what they saw.

Arc: He resists reporting on Marlowe, receives a termination email, and sits with Marlowe on the porch, saying he cannot go home because he met or saw someone.

• Kareem Fayed — his father
• Marlowe Li — his sister
• Nico Li — his mother
• Mo — his husband
• Ibari Waker — longtime Service contact
• the other Kareem Fayed — intruder he chases

A pianist who teaches at a Paris conservatory, mentors at-risk youth, and is Ari Soriano's wife. She befriends Sebastian at the opera and recounts her life, marriages, and daughter Esme. She dies unexpectedly after surgery.

Arc: She appears as a ghost to Ari after death, saying she came for her and that they don't have to be apart anymore. Her death leaves Ari grieving and paying for her opera seat.

• Ari — her wife
• Sebastian — befriends him at the opera
• Esme Léon-Kalisa — her daughter
• Cole — opera friend

A former professional ballet dancer and motel neighbor in Ohio who becomes Ari's partner in gun sales and travel. He flees with Ari to Phoenix, then to Paris and Greece, after cheating the Company militia. He is murdered/stabbed and buried behind a hotel.

Arc: He moves from helpful neighbor to panicked fugitive, becomes passive and drinks, then is killed. His ghost appears to Ari in the hospital and in Nico's apartment.

• Ari — motel neighbor, traveling partner, and first husband
• Eduardo Harris — friend who hires Ari
• Drew — old friend in Phoenix
• Cali — wife of his friend Drew
• Bill Soriano — stranger he drinks with in Greece
• Chris Jasper — stranger he drinks with in Greece
• Gopher — his contact

A wealthy man involved in sketchy business who meets Ari in Greece, partners with her, and marries her quickly. He transports people who want new identities and is worried about the dome. He appears as a ghost in Nico's apartment and later walks with Ari along the river before they split.

Arc: He offers Ari a partnership because he believes they think alike; she accepts and enters a life of dinner parties in Paris. He later appears as a ghost to Ari, and they walk along the river before splitting when they disagree about which way to run.

• Ari — his wife and partner
• Pilar — his cousin and trusted employee
• Felix — knew of him through Ari's story
• Chris Jasper — drinking companion

Ari's housekeeper, assistant, French tutor, and manager; she is also Soriano's cousin and trusted driver. She switches on lamps, cooks, searches for Sebastian, and drives Ari after the port. She waits with the car and drives away when Soriano speaks to her.

Arc: She remains a steady, loyal presence managing Ari's life and later helping her after the hospital.

• Ari — employer and companion
• Bill Soriano — her cousin and employer

A physicist and colleague of Nico who vanished with her in the teleportation experiment, and whose double appears at Kareem's party in a pink shirt and shorts, scared and asking where she is. One version calls Ari 'Ibari,' ends up in a psych ward, and is described as completely undone.

Arc: She disappears in the experiment, her double disrupts the party, and she later is found incoherent in Los Angeles. She is named a Lost Traveler.

• Nico Li — colleague who disappeared with her
• Kareem Fayed — friend and colleague
• Len — colleague
• Ari — calls her 'Ibari'
• Gloria — stares at her scar
• the other Kareem Fayed — her double appeared at his party

Kareem's college roommate and friend who meets Ari at the party, has sex with her, and later investigates Kareem's disappearance with Bruno. He describes seeing two Sarayas and another Gloria and believes the party was a door between realities.

Arc: He moves from party acquaintance to investigator and theorist of the doubling; his phone call to Ari ends when the line goes dead.

• Kareem Fayed — college roommate and friend
• Ari — party acquaintance and sexual partner
• Bruno — fellow investigator
• Gloria — friend
• Saraya — friend and guest at the party

James's fellow investigator who questions party guests about Kareem's disappearance. He takes notes and asks whether anyone saw Kareem leave.

Arc: He remains a supporting investigator.

• James — fellow investigator
• Ari — interviews her about Kareem
• Gloria — interviews her about Kareem
• Kareem Fayed — missing person he is investigating

Ari's cousin, close as a sibling, who worked in the family stolen-antiques business and later in Ari's delivery system. Ari paid someone to kill him after he demanded more money during a delayed transaction in Italy, but he survived. In Ibari's world, Anton is her cousin, leaves reflective silver tape, and warns about pretending everything is fine in an authoritarian state.

Arc: He moves from family/business partner to target of Ari's contract; later he is alive in Italy and appears as Ibari's cousin. His note about exhaustion under authoritarianism underscores the theme.

• Ari — cousin she tried to have killed
• Ibari Waker — her cousin
• Ilieva — part of Ari's delivery system

A surveillance operator for Cincinnati United who hires Ari as an assistant. He later has her surveil Nico as a favor to his cousin, and reveals his operation is shrinking. He leaves town and is described as having found Ari reliable.

Arc: He begins as Ari's employer and ends as a former employer who disappears from her life.

• Ari — employer who hires her for surveillance
• Felix — friend who referred Ari
• Nico Li — his cousin's wife
• Cincinnati United — organization he works for

A Service man who interviews Ibari for promotion and later becomes her colleague on the exit visa case. He once wanted to be a painter, studied art in Ann Arbor, and joined the Service Academy. Latika names him as inside help in the forgery case, and he is blackmailed by Ibari into covering a camp visit.

Arc: He moves from evaluator to colleague to implicated contact; Alberto later reports his arrest.

• Ibari Waker — colleague who blackmails him
• Latika — informant who names him
• Alberto — superior who reports his arrest
• Evie — his wife
• Kareem Fayed — identity he is forced to assume

Ibari's superior at Service who assigns her to investigate the two Kareem Fayeds and later modifies her recusal order. He says a harmonious society comes at a price and that Service members both exact and pay it. He questions Waker and reports Grissom's arrest.

Arc: He remains a pragmatic, morally compromised authority figure.

• Ibari Waker — her superior at Service
• David Grissom — subordinate whose arrest he reports
• Kareem Fayed — orders Ibari to interview him
• the other Kareem Fayed — orders Ibari to interview him
• Nico Li — target of Service investigation

A confidential informant interviewed by Ibari at a Culver City hair salon. She reveals her ex-husband ran a counterfeit exit visa operation, names thirty associates, and under pressure names David Grissom as inside help.

Arc: She provides key information that implicates Grissom and advances the exit visa case.

• Ibari Waker — informant in the exit visa case
• David Grissom — person she names as inside help
• her ex-husband — ran the counterfeit exit visa operation

Samir's husband, who takes Samir's holographic call while on a business trip to Indonesia. He asks about Kareem and Marlowe and tells Samir he loves him.

Arc: He remains a calm, caring presence for Samir.

• Samir Li — his husband

Marlowe's only retained friend from before her marriage, known since kindergarten. She tells Marlowe her life must be relatively easy because she is successful, after which Marlowe is careful not to lean on her.

Arc: She remains a distant friend.

• Marlowe Li — her only retained friend from before her marriage

Ibari's boss at Service who receives her late at night, tests whether she was a friend of the deceased, grants her request for incineration, and thanks her for her service. He seems tired and envious of her retirement.

Arc: He facilitates Ibari's final break from Service.

• Ibari Waker — her boss at Service

A State agent who approaches Ibari Waker on the beach and arrests her.

Arc: He carries out the arrest after Waker lets surveillance drones see her.

• Ibari Waker — arresting officer

Felix's old friend in Phoenix who meets Felix and Ari, performs a handshake, and tells them about Staplestown. He is later shown in photos tied to a chair and then with his throat cut.

Arc: He is murdered by the Company militia as a warning to Felix.

• Felix — old friend
• Cali — his wife
• Ari — meets her on arrival

Drew's new wife who meets Felix and Ari in Phoenix and says she and Drew never leave each other's side. She is later shown murdered with Drew in photos sent to Felix.

Arc: She is killed alongside Drew as a warning to Felix.

• Drew — her husband
• Felix — friend of her husband
• Ari — meets her on arrival

Felix's contact at the Port of Houston who posts a child to watch arriving cars and sends a note reading RUN. He does not appear directly.

Arc: He remains an off-page contact whose warning saves Ari and Felix.

• Felix — his contact

A lonely post office clerk in his sixties whom Ari paid to approve passport applications. Ari visited his apartment to watch TV with him.

Arc: He is part of Ari's past passport business.

• Ari — paid post office clerk and kind of friend

Ari's true friend and paid associate in her delivery system; Ari helped her get back into the country after deportation. She was recruited by a man in Russian organized crime and became involved in Ari's human trafficking project.

Arc: She is a reminder of Ari's criminal past and moral compromises.

• Ari — friend and paid associate
• Anton — part of Ari's delivery system
• Russian organized crime man — recruited her

Sebastian's friend who attends a dinner party with Ari and Eddie and describes Ari as intimidating. He discusses rumors about Ari with Sebastian and Obie and sits at the café with Aurélie.

Arc: He remains a boarding-school friend.

• Sebastian — friend
• Obie — friend
• Aurélie — girlfriend
• Eddie Kalisa — opera friend

Sebastian's friend who says his father is good at stealing things and repeats rumors that Ari and her first husband were killers. He later appears with local gangsters and is the person Sebastian calls to dispose of Ari's body.

Arc: He slips into his father's underworld and creates a debt for Sebastian.

• Sebastian — friend who calls him to dispose of Ari's body
• Cole — friend
• Aurélie — friend

Sebastian's friend, dating Cole, who tells him that if the painting was his father's he should get it back. Sebastian steals a hundred-euro bill from her fallen handbag.

Arc: She remains a minor friend and victim of Sebastian's theft.

• Cole — dating
• Obie — friend
• Sebastian — friend from whom he steals money

A woman Sebastian dates; after sex she comments on how fortunate his apartment is and falls asleep.

Arc: Minor relationship in Sebastian's young adulthood.

• Sebastian — dating partner

Eddie Kalisa's grown daughter, surviving in Lisbon, named in Eddie's obituary.

Arc: She does not appear directly.

• Eddie Kalisa — her mother

A stranger who drinks with Felix at the hotel bar in Greece and tells Ari she has married a careless man; Ari perceives him as dangerous.

Arc: Minor encounter before Felix's death.

• Felix — stranger he drinks with
• Bill Soriano — drinking companion
• Ari — stranger she meets at the bar

The artist who painted Swan Dive and Olivia on Yellow Sofa; he died of a heroin overdose in New York City in 1960. Ibari receives, studies, and purchases his paintings.

Arc: His paintings are central objects linking characters and universes.

• Olivia Collins — subject of his portrait

The subject of Lucas Alkaitis's painting Olivia on Yellow Sofa, which Ibari orders and hangs.

Arc: She appears only as a painting subject.

• Lucas Alkaitis — artist who painted her portrait

A colleague who runs the sequence of switches during the teleportation experiment. After Nico and Saraya vanish, he checks settings and suggests testing objects and living things but does not go himself.

Arc: He remains a colleague involved in the experiment.

• Kareem Fayed — colleague
• Nico Li — colleague
• Saraya — colleague

Ibari's childhood neighbor whose entrances and exits she recorded in her TRUE DILIGENCE notebook between four and six p.m.

Arc: Minor childhood detail.

• Ibari Waker — childhood neighbor she surveilled in her notebook