13E: LANFORD, SUZANNE [DECEASED]

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Name: Suzanne Lanford
Gender: Female
Age: 16
School: Silver Dragon Academy
Hobbies and Interests: Playing video games (mostly role-playing games), reading fantasy and romance novels, writing one-shots on Fictionpress.com, taking care of her finances

Appearance: Suzanne is a short girl that stands at only 5' 3" with fair skin due to the fact she spends much of her time inside her house. Her dusty-brown hair is cut short and it just falls to the top of her shoulders. She has slightly pudgy cheeks that are lined with freckles and she also has wide, dull blue eyes. She's not particularly impressive in her looks and has an average build with a small chest when compared to other girls her age.

As for her clothes, she's can always be found in clothing that's cheap when compared to the richness of her fellow students and she's definitely not one you would call fashionable. She prefers solid-color T-shirts and blouses, often in light colors such as sky-blue, pink, white, and gray. She also wears long, flowing skirts that fall all the way to her ankles in the same colors as well and pretty much never wears pants if she can help it somehow. The only pieces of jewelry she ever wears is a small, silver necklace adorned with a thin, jade ring hanging from one end and a single sapphire earring that hangs from her right ear.

On the day she was abducted to participate in SotF-TV, she was wearing a flat white T-shirt, a long, sky-blue skirt, and the aforementioned jewelry.

Biography: When she was first brought into the world, no one knew if Suzanne would be able to live. Born three weeks prematurely, Suzanne Lanford was a weak child and if it wasn't for the love and the money that her parents, Michael and Vera Lanford, spent on her care, she might not have made it. However, she was able to survive and despite a weaker immune system, Suzanne was able to grow up to be a fairly intelligent and happy young girl. However, the knowledge that she had caused her parents so much worry and that they had to spend so much money to keep her healthy through her younger years laid a heavy burden on her mind.

As such, she didn't want to make her parents spend too much money on her when she was growing up and insisted that they get her the cheapest clothes that they could get. While her parents didn't always follow her wishes, she did end up with a wardrobe that was several years out of fashion and while they looked nice, they were very plain and not that attractive. This didn't help when she was in elementary school as her short size and boring clothes often left her to be ignored by the other kids. She was already not a particularly extroverted girl due to her hang-up about her birth, but this treatment dropped her self-esteem a couple of more notches and she began developing an inferiority complex.

The complex would persist as she grew up and she tried her best to not get involved with other people, believing that it would be best if she didn't bother them with her own problems. As such, during her school time she would often be found in the back corner of the classroom or hanging out in the library. She would, of course, answer when called on and do her best to do her part in group projects, but if she wasn't noticed or needed, she simply let herself fade into the background.

Instead of hanging out with friends or participating in sports, she spends much of her free time playing video games or reading fantasy and romance novels. She likes imagining herself as one of the characters in the games or novels and she desperately wishes that she could be as cool or as strong as the characters she reads about. However, she knows that fantasy is much different from real life, but she uses the experiences of the characters she reads about as a driving motivation to one day break out of the shell she's enclosed around herself. She also uses it as inspiration to become a budding author by writing one-shorts or short multi-chaptered stories on places such as FictionPress.com. Much like the books and games she plays, these are also romance-themed and generally have a fantasy element or two.

This, along with some slight prodding from her parents, who also realize that their daughter's sheltered and shy attitude will not help her when she grows up to be an adult, has prompted her to actually join the debate club to gain some speaking skills. Of course, she's not particularly good at it and it takes her a lot of effort to actually stand up and give out her speech. She's not particularly good at transmitting her thoughts to words so if she doesn't go first, she often writes her thoughts short-hand on a paper before her turn.

Along with joining the debate club, she's also actually joined an online pen & paper roleplaying group that operates on forums and on webchat programs such as mIRC. While she's still way too nervous to actually join one in real life, she hopes that online interaction will slowly help her along the way. Thanks to the fact she doesn't have to see other people when playing (and thus they can't see her), she's actually a lot more sociable online and supportive as well.

As for her schoolwork, Suzanne is easily one of the top students in the school in areas that don't involve athletics. She devotes a lot of her time to studying since she knows that her parents spend a lot of money to keep her enrolled in SDA and as such, she doesn't want to fail their expectations. She is a quick thinker and learns new things at a good pace, but it is her inability to work in groups that drags down her grade. Her favorite subject is English and she continuously tries to improve her writing skills, one day hoping to become a famous novelist.

Advantages: She's small, so people might overlook her. She's also well known in Silver Dragon Academy as not being very threatening, which might work in her favor if she runs into any of her schoolmates.
Disadvantages: Suzanne is physically weak and has a compromised immune system, making her very susceptible for the elements that she'll find in the game. She's also not good with people and doesn't know how to talk that well, making it hard for her to really join up with others in the game.

Designated Number: Team 13 E.

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Designated Weapon: Pair of walkie-talkies
Conclusion: Whilst Suzanne has some ready made allies in the rest of Team 13, they won't do any good if she falls victim to sickness!
Mentor Comment: Brains of the outfit with none of the brawn. Suzanne needs protecting.

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