SS11: BRITNEE JOYNER [DECEASED]

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Name: Britnee Danielle Joyner
Gender: Female
Age: 17
Grade: 11th
Hobbies and Interests: Discount fashion, SOTF-TV, cosmetology, science-fiction novels, starting rumors, getting attention

Appearance: Britnee is 5’5 and 110 lbs, with a slim frame maintained through regular dieting. Britnee’s face is lean in nature, with a wide forehead, thinly arched eyebrows, a somewhat puggish nose, and full-lips. Her most striking feature, however, are her slightly-almond shaped, light mocha eyes, which possess a slightly feline-esque quality. Of Jamaican-American descent, her dark brown skin possesses cool undertones. Her black hair is naturally kinky, but she straightens it regularly, leaving it to fall to her upper back. Typically, she ties it into low pigtails that hang forward for practicality. Both her ears are pierced, and she generally has a fondness for feathered earrings.

Britnee places much emphasis on her physical appearance, sticking to regular dental and skincare routines in order to keep things in order. Through the application of several creams, she has largely been able to stave off significant acne outbreaks, while regular brushing and occasional whitening have left her teeth pearly white. The same dedication applies to her makeup: while often not very noticeable, she applies foundation, mascara, neutral lipstick, eyeliner and concealer in order to produce a somewhat natural look, while still emphasizing her features. On more specific occasions, she tends to use more eye-catching shades, but on school days, she typically uses a fairly understated palette with the exception of her eyeshadow or lip gloss. Bright colors and low-cut tops are regular features in her ensemble. At school, however, she generally layers in order to avoid trouble with the clothing code.

On Casting Day, Britnee was wearing a crop-top she had made out of a pale-pink t-shirt over a white strapless undershirt, a denim miniskirt, thigh-high white socks, and knee-length brown faux-suede boots. Her hair was done in its usual pigtails, tied with white ribbons, and she was wearing her favorite pair of hot pink feather earrings. Around her neck was a silver necklace in the shape of her name, and around her left wrist were two gold bangles.

Britnee’s voice is relatively high-pitched and nasal, and she possesses a tendency to speak quite quickly.

Biography: Ever since her birth, Britnee has been a resident of Miami. She is the daughter of two Jamaican immigrants, both of whom moved to the United States in search of better job opportunities. Her mother, Elaine, works as a third-grade teacher in a Catholic private school, and her father, Sheldon, works as a manager at a local electronics store. She is the second of three children, younger than her brother Daniel (21), but older than her other brother Danny (15). While closer to them, especially her father, in her youth, Britnee possesses fairly distant if loving relationships with her parents. Meanwhile, her relationships with her brothers are friendly, if filled with much teasing. Her relationship with Daniel has faded somewhat, however, due to his relocation to North Carolina to attend Wake Forest University, while she sees Danny much more often due to him also being a student at Mangrove Garden.

Ever since her early childhood, Britnee has always sought attention. While the only daughter, as the middle child, she often felt she needed to act out in order to have the spotlight placed on her. This often meant that she was the recipient of discipline from her parents rather than her other brothers, both of whom were far more introverted. These incidents included making up outlandish stories or refusing to leave the house until she was able to wear what she wanted. While these incidents abated as she continued to grow, her tendencies towards exaggeration continued to be present, and her penchant for acting out, instead developed into a desire for the approval of others.

This was especially pronounced when Britnee was in early elementary school, attending the same school that her mother taught at. As a private institution, Britnee’s fellow classmates often came from far more privileged backgrounds than her own. While from a relatively stable middle-class household, Britnee felt the need to showcase how she was on the same level as everyone else in her class. While everyone knew her mother was Ms. Joyner, only two classrooms away, Britnee began to tell stories of how her father was a famous celebrity who could only visit them rarely due to his job. Naturally, few believed her, and those that did were soon proven wrong when her father did pick her up from school, but this quickly meant that Britnee gained a reputation among her classmates for telling such tall tales, and became a target of some mockery. Despite this, Britnee continued, reasoning that if they were at least listening to her stories, that was enough for her.

While such incidents quickly got around to the ears of her mother, who always scolded her daughter for saying such things, Sheldon was much more lenient on her. Rather than getting angry at her, he would often instead read with her novels of worlds far away, with technology far beyond that present in human society, to display a different kind of fantasy world. Although Britnee initially took such fiction in stride, only accepting to spend more time with her often-busy father, she slowly began to develop a passion for such science fiction novels, an interest she retains to this day. Her favorite authors include Isaac Asimov and Ursula LeGiun. However, her father remains the only person Britnee discusses such novels with. Feeling that it would not exactly be socially acceptable to possess such interests, she keeps such passions under lock and key, only indulging in them in her private time. This is particularly due to the genre of novels that she finds herself most interested in. Britnee suspects that if her tastes leaned more towards the conventional, particularly romance novels, her love of reading would be fine, but due to a fear of judgment, she has continued to keep this secret.

For middle school, it was mutually decided by both of Britnee’s parents that it would be best to send her to a public school, in order to avoid the same issues that plagued her in previous years. On some level, this worked - Britnee stopped telling outrageous stories about herself, but this also meant that she turned her habits towards mass speculation of others. Always up for a good story, she quickly learned the importance of gossip in the social landscape, and always eager to impress those at the top of the social pyramid, she duly joined in, serving as both an avid listener and spreader of gossip. Such eagerness, coupled with her initial awkwardness, was quickly noted upon by those more popular than her, and as such Britnee became something of a lackey to more popular girls, invited to parties and sleepovers more to hear her wild speculation stories rather than for any actual kinship.

These same attempts to keep in the upper echelons of middle school social structure meant that Britnee developed an interest in fashion, especially more cost-effective methods of achieving trending looks. With both her parents relatively frugal and impressing on both her and brothers the importance of saving money, Britnee began to turn to thrift shops in order to emulate the outfits her friends wore, without the financial sting. While early on her fairly shoddy attempts only led to more laughter directed her way, with practice and time, Britnee became much better at finding cheaper substitutes to create the outfits she so idolized. To this day, Britnee remains frugal in her fashion tastes, and although she occasionally splurges on a pair of expensive shoes or earrings, she enjoys the challenge of making outfits that are fashionable as well as budget-conscious.

Throughout this whole time period, and although Britnee and her mother had their disagreements, one aspect of Britnee’s life they agreed on was her commitment to schoolwork. While the most disobedient of her siblings, Britnee’s parents made sure to instill in her as strong a work ethic in her as her brothers, and this, coupled with her relatively quick ability to learn, meant that she found it fairly easy to maintain high grades, although ones she rarely divulged to her friends. In fear of being seen as uncool due to her dedication of her schoolwork, Britnee made it a point to feign as much confusion as many of her other friends to ensure that she wouldn’t stick out in any way.

Such concerns were also why Britnee made it clear to no one she was close to in middle school that she was applying to Mangrove Garden. While her acceptance didn’t come as much of a surprise to her family, her friends were quite shocked and while they congratulated her, Britnee has lost touch with many of them. Despite this, she continued to fall into the same role at Mangrove Garden that she did in middle school - that of the popular girl’s lackey, always floating around the upper echelons without ever truly being accepted into that strata.

Partially, this was due to Mangrove Garden possessing many of the same kinds of affluent students Britnee was faced with in elementary school, but having become accustomed to such tactics for social survival, she also saw no need to change. In conjunction with her entrance into high school, Britnee began to pick up a new interest; cosmetology. While already an avid fan of fashion, Britnee’s prior attempts at using make-up were often both abortive and embarrassing. With the help of her newfound friends, as well as an intense desire to better herself to ensure such disasters wouldn’t happen, Britnee began to improve her make-up coordination abilities, and is often tasked with helping touch up her friends’ makeup before parties, another way she attempts to make herself useful.

Around Mangrove Garden, Britnee has garnered a reputation for being something of a rumormonger, the gleeful way in which she peddles misinformation and gossip making her something of a figure of disdain for those simply trying to keep their heads above all the drama. Although she continues to serve as a gleeful gossip and eager follower of those with more social clout, the lengths she goes to preserve this image have left Britnee increasingly insecure in her position. While she knows on some level that her friends aren't particularly fond of her, she continues to stick with them due to her not knowing where else to turn to, as well as a sincere enjoyment of the rumors that she spreads. To emphasize this, she often puts on a front, acting far peppier and ditzier when at school and with her friends, hiding her insecurities beneath a smile and faintly-disguised insults.

Another hobby she has started up due to her friends is watching SOTF-TV. Already a fan of real-life drama, some soap operas, the narratives created due to the life-and-death situation are of great interest to Britnee, and she has become an avid fan. Britnee views SOTF-TV through the lens of it essentially being a soap opera with even higher stakes, and rather than watching for the tactics and actions, she pays special attention to the romances that form and their inevitable dissolutions.

Part of this fascination with romance in SOTF-TV has stemmed from Britnee’s relative lack of romantic success in her own life. While always relatively fond of the idea of being in a couple, ever since middle school, Britnee’s overeagerness often pushes away potential suitors, or ensures that any relationships that are formed are on a short-term basis or are made with little to no emotional attachment. While not particularly promiscuous, this relative desperation has ensured that Britnee has gained a reputation as being “easy”, much to her consternation. In the few relationships she has had, however, Britnee’s tendency to believe in an idealized version of romance means that whenever her boyfriend has failed to live up to expectations, things quickly dissolve from there.

If there is one area of her life in which Britnee is able to take solace in, it has remained her schoolwork. Still a strong student, and still one that often hides her more academic side behind gossip and surface-level perkiness, Britnee maintains a straight-A average, the product of both a natural knack for subjects like English and Biology, as well as a fairly disciplined study regimen. As such, she ranks in the mid-90th percentile. She doesn’t disclose this fact to many, especially as it has resulted in her turning to energy drinks to ensure she can fit everything into her schedule, but she still finds it a minor source of pride nonetheless. While she generally tries to keep her academic record mum, when questioned about it, Britnee often tries to downplay the issue by changing to other topics of conversation, or arguing that she simply got lucky with her preparation. Such attempts aren't always successful, however, and it has become something of an open secret that beneath Britnee's surface-level cheer she is a fairly excellent student.

This contrast is especially noted in the classroom. While an excellent student on individual projects, and relatively inquisitive and active in discussions in classes which she has without her friends, Britnee is often something of a nuisance if her friends are also present, being loud and somewhat unruly. When teachers compliment her work, she again tries to brush off the comments as well as the work she puts into such projects. With her academic success slowly coming to light, though, she has in more recent occasions been pressured by friends to help them edit assignments, something she does out of obligation.

Although Britnee's grades are a source of pride for both her parents, her choice of friends is a topic of far more criticism. Elaine often tells Britnee that she is wasting her potential by hanging around the crowd that she does, and although their relationship still remains positive, these discussions have allowed for more tension to seep into their relationship.

Britnee finds herself mainly directionless when it comes to her path for the future. Having spent so much of her life trying to simply make it socially, she is now at a loss for what she’ll do in college and beyond. Currently, she is thinking of applying to UCLA, in hopes that a coast-to-coast move will help her realize her path in life.

Advantages: An avid watcher of SOTF, Britnee possesses knowledge of the show, and may be able to emulate successful strategies or avoid the mistakes of past contestants.. Socially aggressive, she may find it easier to form alliances and dissuade aggressors. She is also decently deceptive - used to playing dumb, she may find it easier to avoid being seen as a threat.
Disadvantages: While socially proactive, Britnee has a tendency to come off as desperate and pushy, potentially aggravating others. Often desperate for approval and external validation, she is likely to follow those who may not have her best intentions in mind. She possesses a relatively idealized opinion of SOTF-TV - actually being placed on the show will likely be a great shock psychologically. Britnee possesses a reputation as a noted gossip, making it more likely for others not to believe her claims or believe she’s simply exaggerating.


Designated Number: Shiva's Sirens 11 (SS11)

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Designated Weapon: Hydrogen Sulfate

Mentor Comment: "Social maneuvers aren't to be underestimated, and Miss Joyner is in a prime position to act as the 'face' of the team. I do believe she'll be a joy to have around."

[Mr. Lanthier spent the next two and a half minutes laughing at his own joke.]


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